Waubonsee Community College

Chelyabinsk, the most contaminated spot on the planet, produced by Slawomir Grunberg

eng

videorecording

For College; Adult audiences

Chelyabinsk

electronic resource

747796372

produced by Slawomir Grunberg

61

the most contaminated spot on the planet

The whole world was horrified by the Chernobyl disaster, especially as it threatened to contaminate Europe. In the backwoods of Russia, however, there is a city with an atomic weapons complex which has endured no less than three nuclear disasters in the last forty-five years. In 1957, there was an explosion of the cooling system. Ten years later, a storm spread radi oactive dust. For six years, the complex systematically dumped radioactive waste into the only river that supplied water for twenty-four villages. Until now Chelyabinsk has been shrouded in secrecy. In 1992 when the area was opened up to foreigners, the filmmaker began recording the details of ordinary life in this deadly environment. A kitchen Geiger counter is necessary to guard against radiation in food. The countryside looks deceptively beautiful, but the Techa River, which beckons to children on warm summer days, is contaminated. Life expectancy is between fifty and fifty-five years and ninety percent of the children suffer from chronic illnesses. As one listens to the farmers, teachers, doctors and factory workers who live in Chelyabinsk, one is struck by the inhumanity of governments whose priorities put military advantage above people s well-being

general