Ozyorsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast

For other places with the same name, see Ozyorsk.
"City 40" redirects here. For the documentary about the city, see City 40 (film).
Ozyorsk
Озёрск
Town
A view of Karl Marx Avenue in Ozyorsk.
Flag
Coat of arms
Interactive map of Ozyorsk
Ozyorsk
Location of Ozyorsk
Ozyorsk
Ozyorsk (Chelyabinsk Oblast)
Coordinates: 55°45′N 60°43′E / 55.750°N 60.717°E / 55.750; 60.717
CountryRussia
Federal subjectChelyabinsk Oblast
Founded1945
Town status since1994
Government
 • HeadOleg Kostikov
Elevation
240 m (790 ft)
Population
 (2010 Census)[1]
 • Total
82,164
 • Estimate 
(2023)
76,434 (−7%)
 • Rank202nd in 2010
 • Subordinated toTown of Ozyorsk[2]
 • Capital ofTown of Ozyorsk[2]
 • Urban okrugOzyorsky Urban Okrug[2]
 • Capital ofOzyorsky Urban Okrug[2]
Time zoneUTC+5 (MSK+2 [3])
Postal code[4]
456780-456790
Dialing code+7 35130
OKTMO ID75743000001
Websiteozerskadm.ru

Ozyorsk or Ozersk (Russian: Озёрск) is a closed city in Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. It had a population of 82,164 as of the 2010 census.[1]

History

The town was founded on the shores of Lake Irtyash in 1947.[5] Until 1994, it was known as Chelyabinsk-65, and even earlier, as Chelyabinsk-40 (the name is taken from the nearest city Chelyabinsk, which was a common practice of giving names to closed towns, plus the last digits of the postal code). Codenamed City 40, Ozyorsk was the birthplace of the Soviet nuclear weapons program launched after the Second World War.[6][7] Ozyorsk and Richland in the US were the first two cities in the world to produce plutonium for use in Cold War atomic bombs.[8][9] In 1994, it was granted town status and renamed Ozyorsk.

Kyshtym disaster

Main article: Kyshtym disaster

In 1957, the Mayak plant was the site of a major disaster, releasing more radioactive contamination than the meltdown at Chernobyl. An improperly stored underground tank of high-level liquid nuclear waste exploded, contaminating thousands of square kilometres of territory, now known as the Eastern Ural Radioactive Trace (EURT). The matter was quietly and secretly covered up, and few either inside or outside Russia were aware of the full scope of the disaster until 1980.[10]

Before the 1957 accident, much of the waste was dumped into the Techa River, causing severe contamination and negatively affecting residents of dozens of riverside villages including Ozyorsk. After the 1957 accident, dumping in the Techa River officially ceased. In addition to the radioactive risks, the airborne lead and particulate soot levels in Ozyorsk (along with much of the Ural industrial region) are also very high—roughly equal to the levels encountered along busy roadsides in the era predating unleaded gasoline and catalytic converters—due to the presence of numerous lead smelters.

On Sunday September 29, 1957 at 4:22 pm, in the production association "Mayak" in Ozyorsk one of the containers exploded, in which high-level waste was kept. The explosion completely destroyed a stainless steel container located in a concrete canyon 8.2 meters deep. In total, there were 14 containers ("cans") in the canyon. One tenth of the radioactive substances were lifted into the air. After the explosion, a column of smoke and dust rose up to a kilometer high, the dust flickered with an orange-red light and settled on buildings and people. The rest of the waste discarded from the tank remained at the industrial site. Reactor plants got into the contamination zone.

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, it has, together with six rural localities, official status as the Town of Ozyorsk—an administrative unit with a status equal to that of the districts.[2] As a municipal division, the town of Ozyorsk has the official name Ozyorsky Urban Okrug.[2]

Economy

Ozyorsk has been closed because of its proximity to the Mayak plant, one of the sources of Soviet plutonium during the Cold War, and now a Russian facility for processing nuclear waste and recycling nuclear material from decommissioned nuclear weapons.[7]

The town's coat of arms depicts a flame-colored salamander resting on a stylized reactor block (seen from above) submerged in water. Southern-Urals Construction Department (ЗАО "Южноуральское управление строительства") is another major enterprise. Its activities include construction for atomic industry needs, production of concrete constructions and construction materials.

Education and culture

There are seventeen different cultural and public-service institutions. There are sixteen secondary schools, two schools specializing in the English language, one gymnasium, physics-mathematics lyceum, three professional colleges, Southern-Ural Polytechnical College, Music College, Ozyorsk Engineering Institute (an affiliate of National Research Nuclear University MEPhI), and affiliates of Yekaterinburg's and Chelyabinsk's universities.

City 40 is a documentary film about the town, directed by Samira Goetschel and released in July 2016.[6][11]

References

Notes

  1. ^ a b Russian Federal State Statistics Service (2011). Всероссийская перепись населения 2010 года. Том 1 [2010 All-Russian Population Census, vol. 1]. Всероссийская перепись населения 2010 года [2010 All-Russia Population Census] (in Russian). Federal State Statistics Service.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Resolution #161
  3. ^ "Об исчислении времени". Официальный интернет-портал правовой информации (in Russian). June 3, 2011. Retrieved January 19, 2019.
  4. ^ Почта России. Информационно-вычислительный центр ОАСУ РПО. (Russian Post). Поиск объектов почтовой связи (Postal Objects Search) (in Russian)
  5. ^ Domus, monthly review of architecture interiors design art. Editoriale Domus S.p.A. 2004.
  6. ^ a b Samira Goetschel (July 20, 2016). "'The graveyard of the Earth': inside City 40, Russia's deadly nuclear secret". The Guardian. Retrieved July 25, 2016.
  7. ^ a b William Langewiesche (April 29, 2008). The Atomic Bazaar: Dispatches from the Underground World of Nuclear Trafficking. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 33–. ISBN 978-1-4299-3434-3.
  8. ^ Mark Peplow (March 27, 2013). "Military history:Dinner at the fission chips". Nature. 495 (7442): 444. Bibcode:2013Natur.495..444P. doi:10.1038/495444a. S2CID 4313672.
  9. ^ Edwards, Rob (March 18, 2013). "The radioactive legacy of the search for plutopia". New Scientist.
  10. ^ "Russian village evacuation as rocket blast sparks radiation fears: Nyonoksa residents asked to leave within a day after last week's explosion that spiked radiation levels up to 16 times". Al Jazeera. August 13, 2019. Retrieved October 17, 2019. See 25 minute video of Felicity Barr's interview of Nadezhda Kutepova.
  11. ^ Кутепова Надежда (2021). Тайны закрытых городов. Vol. 1. Москва: РИПОЛ классик. pp. 469–478. ISBN 978-5-386-14469-2.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link)

Sources

  • Законодательное Собрание Челябинской области. Постановление №161 от 25 мая 2006 г. «Об утверждении перечня муниципальных образований (административно-территориальных единиц) Челябинской области и населённых пунктов, входящих в их состав», в ред. Постановления №2255 от 23 октября 2014 г. «О внесении изменений в перечень муниципальных образований (административно-территориальных единиц) Челябинской области и населённых пунктов, входящих в их состав». Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Южноуральская панорама", №111–112, 14 июня 2006 г. (Legislative Assembly of Chelyabinsk Oblast. Resolution #161 of November 25, 2006 On Adoption of the Registry of the Municipal Formations (Administrative-Territorial Units) of Chelyabinsk Oblast and of the Inhabited Localities They Comprise, as amended by the Resolution #2255 of October 23, 2014 On Amending the Registry of the Municipal Formations (Administrative-Territorial Units) of Chelyabinsk Oblast and of the Inhabited Localities They Comprise. Effective as of the official publication date.).
  • Законодательное Собрание Челябинской области. Закон №287-ЗО от 28 октября 2004 г. «О статусе и границах Озёрского городского округа», в ред. Закона №124-ЗО от 28 апреля 2011 г «О внесении изменений в Закон Челябинской области "О статусе и границах Озёрского городского округа"». Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Южноуральская панорама", спецвыпуск, 30 ноября 2004 г. (Legislative Assembly of Chelyabinsk Oblast. Law #287-ZO of October 28, 2004 On the Status and Borders of Ozyorsky Urban Okrug, as amended by the Law #124-ZO of April 28, 2011 On Amending the Law of Chelyabinsk Oblast "On the Status and Borders of Ozyorsky Urban Okrug". Effective as of the official publication date.).

Further reading

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