Lake Chagan (Atomic Lake) at the Semipalatinsk Test Site
0:50 · Tnt1984 · 720p · 2017-03-14
Video made at Lake Chagan, a nuclear crater on the Semipalatinsk Test Site in Kazakhstan, back in July of 2012 when I traveled there. As I mention, gamma radiation levels reach about 1000 times the local background in Kurchatov as measured on my scintillation detector. The ground is littered with "Kharitonchiki," or chunks of fused sand and rock from the blast. Even though it is windy, this visit happened on one of the first non-rainy and moderately warm days we had out at the STS and I do comment (apologies to any tender ears out there) that it is good weather for a "goddamn picnic" (I recall eating a bunch of cashews that we'd bought roadside near Pavlodar, in addition to the lousy bread and cheese picked up that morning in Kurchatov.) Look down at my shoes at the end of the video: you can see the blue plastic is the remains of anti-contamination booties they required us to wear on the site even though the whole idea was farcical.