During the Cold War, the powerful superpowers of the United States and the USSR were in a space race and tried to develop powerful weapons as quickly as possible. As we know, nuclear bombs appeared as a result of this confrontation. But one should not think that they were developed exclusively for military purposes, both countries had projects using “peaceful nuclear explosions”.
So, in the United States since 1957, the Plusher program has been operating, the purpose of which was to study the possibility of using nuclear weapons for non-military purposes. During the operation, the possibility of quickly creating pits for further development, explosive drilling of mines, etc. was considered. The operation was cut short in the early seventies, due to its high cost and uselessness. During the existence of the program, about 30 explosions were made.
A similar program has been developed since 1965 in the USSR. The Soviet government planned, with the help of nuclear bombs, to build water canals in the arid regions of the country and extract minerals. One of the first tasks of the operation was the creation of Lake Chagan in Kazakhstan, which in the future will be called Atomic.
On January 15, 1965, at a depth of 180 meters, an explosion occurred that lifted millions of tons of soil into the air to a height of 800 meters. Then, for a month, work was carried out to excavate a canal from a nearby river. Scientists understood that such an explosion would contaminate the surrounding areas. Therefore, in order to reduce the consequences of radioactive dust, a dam was built on the lake. All the time, about 200 people worked on the project, who had health problems in the future. But the mission was completed and Chagan Lake was filled with water.
First of all, after filling the well, a biological research station was installed here. More than a hundred species of various representatives of the flora and fauna of the river were released into the lake, but soon most of the living creatures died due to non-standard living conditions, and the surviving fish began to mutate. The station was closed in the early 1970s.
To date, the consequences of atomic explosions for the creation of Lake Chagan do not pose a serious threat to the lives of animals, but for people the territory is prohibited. The radiation background here exceeds the norm by dozens of times, the lake water cannot be drunk or used for watering plants.
Despite all the warnings, this place is popular with tourists, but I would not recommend you to come here. It is better to find a safer place for summer vacation. And to find cheap tickets and the best hotels, the Yandex Travel service is perfect.
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Source: IXBT
