Talk:Mayak

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I question the NPOV of this article a bit, I have difficulty justifing some of the statments made by any site other than greenpeace (which is listed thrice as a reference) and I do not really consider greenpeace to be a source of reliable and unbiased information.

--Matthew 07:07, 16 January 2006 (UTC)

This could be a fine article. There's plenty of encyclopedia quality sources easily available via a goole search. Here are some I'd start with:

JesseW 20:03, 22 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Moving the External link from Cephalic_disorder here. Greenpeace Mayak web site (Warning: Graphic Images) As

I've now written a stub for the article, and included these references, although it would be good if someone would go through them and pull out more information about the article. JesseW 20:25, 22 Oct 2004 (UTC)

In the german article it is stated as the biggest nuclear accident, as the contamination of the surroundings was two to six times higher as that of chernobyl. -- Lightkey 11:44, 20 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] The 1957 Mayak Incident

I've given this entry my considered attention, even though I am no authority on Mayak and on the 1957 incident, because I believe that that incident was a major event in the Cold War, although one not owned up to as such. It could well be that the Mayak incident released more radiation than Chernobyl. For years, I thought that the 1957 incident took place in Sverdlovsk. I first encountered "Mayak" and "Chelyabinsk" while researching this article -- Concerned Cynic.

[edit] Date of official acknowledgment

The article says ""Only in 1992, shortly after the fall of the USSR, did the Russians officially acknowledge the accident". But an article in German newspaper "Die Welt" (http://www.welt.de/data/1996/04/09/686606.html , linked from article in de.wikipedia) :

"Doch erst im Juli 1989 - mit 32 Jahren Verspätung - informierte das in der Sowjetunion nach dem Unglück von Tschernobyl neu geschaffene Ministerium für Atomenergie die Internationale Atomenergie-Organisation (IAEO) über das Unglück."

("Only in July 1989 - 32 years late - did the ministry of nuclear energy (newly created in the SU after the Chernobyl disaster) inform the IAEO about the accident").

Which is correct, 1989 or 1992? sleske 2006-04-27

[edit] Rationale for Keeping Mayak Secret Proven or Supposition?

"...the CIA knew of the 1957 Mayak accident all along, but kept it secret to prevent adverse consequences for the fledgling USA nuclear industry. "Ralph Nader surmised that the information had not been released because of the reluctance of the CIA to highlight a nuclear accident in the USSR, that could cause concern among people living near nuclear facilities in the USA" (Pollock 1978: 9)"

So first we have the article saying that it was kept secret for industrial reasons, and then as evidence states that Nader only surmised that this was the case. Do we have any concrete sources stating the articles conclusion, or only might have beens?

MSTCrow 02:02, 7 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] rm dab

Removed: :This article is about a nuclear factory. Mayak (meaning "the beacon") is also a radio station in Russia, operating since 1964. [1] - Disambiguate only if there is an article. Femto 11:59, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] More incidents

Mark Hertsgaard, writing recently in The Nation ("Return to Chelyabinsk", posted October 26, 2006, published in the November 13, 2006 issue) says that the 1957 accident is only a small part of the story on nuclear disaster and radiation pollution:

The Mayak nuclear complex, located fifty miles north of the city, suffered the first of its three nuclear disasters in 1949, when officials started pouring nuclear waste directly into the Techa River, which runs through the complex. According to studies by Russian experts and scientists with the US-based Natural Resources Defense Council, 28,000 people received average individual doses fifty-seven times greater than those later received at Chernobyl. Only 7,500 people were evacuated, and people were not forbidden to use the river water until 1953. The second disaster was in 1957, when a waste dump exploded, spewing some seventy-five metric tons of radioactive waste into the air, exposing 272,000 people to doses of radiation equivalent to those at Chernobyl. The third came in 1967, when a cyclone whirled across the drought-exposed shores of a lake being used as a waste dump; 5 million additional curies of radioactivity were dispersed.

There's quite a bit else that looks useful in his article. I'm not at all knowledgable on this topic, so I'm just leaving this note here to suggest that as a source for people who are working on the article. - Jmabel | Talk 20:24, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Comparison to Chernobyl

If this article is accurate, I don't see how it can be claimed that Chernobyl was worse. Hundreds of people dying vs 56 deaths, mostly of firefighters at Chernobyl. Now that new, more accurate data about Chernobyl has come to light, that the estimates of thousands of cases of cancer and thyroid damage were seriously overstated for political purposes of the day, maybe it is time to recognize this officially and set the record straight. Gigs 23:29, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] STILL SECRET AND FARLY UNDERESTIMATED

I couldn't believe what I was reading here, English Wikipedia does not reflect even a fraction of what really means Mayak. Chernobyl is nothing against it. For all you people able to read german, please verify the german version, which gives very accurate information about dimensions of Radiation arround Mayak and the Karatschai lake. Recently, there was an international study, which indicated that the Karatschai lake is the most poluted spot on earth. If you ever visit this place, the max limit to stay and not to die by guarantee, is between 5 and 15 mins. If you stay longer, you will not survive the next hour. This is really no exageration, please verify the german site. But I guess my discomposure is understandable. --194.203.215.254 11:55, 17 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Do people live there?

How is the plant used today to make Tritium if it's dangerous for people to drive their cars with the windows down even hundreds of miles away? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.53.188.237 (talk) 20:54, 27 November 2007 (UTC)

I don't get that either. Apparently the town closest to the plant still has many thousands of inhabitants, and officially is recognized as a city since 2004. 213.89.222.42 (talk) 13:02, 2 March 2008 (UTC)