Download or read book Nuclear Disaster in the Urals written by Zhores Medvedev and published by W. W. Norton. This book was released on 1979-07 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Late in 1957 a huge explosion occurred in the disposal section of the Soviet atomic weapons industry located in the Southern Urals where atomic wastes had been stored for over ten years. The result was devastating. The primary radioactive contamination covered between 800 and 1200 square miles, an area almost as large as Rhode Island. People died--whole villages had to be evacuated and bulldozed. All that remained, both plant and animal life, received such a massive dose of radiation that its effects will probably be felt for as long as a century.