Stock up on tins of beans, round up your loved
ones and head for the nearest fallout shelter…
because things are about to get nuclear.
From atomic explosions occurring at the height
of the Cold War to alleged North Korean nuclear
tests - get ready for
10 Shocking Nuclear Disasters That Were Covered
Up.
NUMBER 10: THE KYSHTYM DISASTER
During the Cold War, the Soviet Union hastily
constructed a number of nuclear plants. Among
these was the Mayak plant, built near the
town of Kyshtym in Russia, which was built
between 1945 and 1948.
Now, I’m not claiming to be a construction
expert or anything, but I’d have thought
you’d need more than 3 years to build a
highly complex nuclear facility.
Tragically, all the regulations the construction
team sidestepped as a result turned out to
be fairly important.
On September 29th 1957, one of the plant’s
cooling systems failed and collapsed in a
ginormous explosion.
The resulting cloud of radioactive gas spread
over 50,000 square kilometers. Despite there
being 270,000 people living in the affected
area, only 11,000 of these were evacuated.
Sources differ, but it is widely thought that
at least 200 deaths can be directly traced
back to the explosion.
Because the disaster wasn’t exactly part
of the USSR’s plan to win its international
pissing contest with America, a massive cover-up
operation was launched.
The Soviets disclosed the full details to
absolutely no-one - not even those that were
directly affected, hence why so few people
were evacuated.
The Western press barely got wind of the massive
disaster, bar a few rumors. It wasn’t until
1976, when biologist and Soviet dissident
Zhores Medvedev published details of it in
New Scientist, that it was officially confirmed.
NUMBER 9: THREE MILE ISLAND
The Three Mile Island Disaster was the single
most significant accident in the history of
US commercial nuclear power plants. So, it’s
kind of a big deal.
The meltdown occurred on March 28th 1979,
the result of a severe cooling malfunction
at the Pennsylvania plant. It took 14 years
and $1 billion to clean up.
Whilst the disaster itself wasn’t exactly
covered up, since it made headlines across
the globe, the government’s response was
pretty damn fishy.
At first, the public were assured that no
radiation had been released. This wasn’t
exactly true. In fact, the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission later admitted that it’d didn’t
know exactly how much radiation was released,
due to faulty monitors.
Then, people were told that the radiation
release had been ‘controlled’ and ‘deliberate’,
in order to alleviate pressure on the core.
Again, this turned out to be a bare-faced
lie.
Finally, the government promised that they
would carefully study the health impacts of
the accident. They eventually concluded that
the TMI Disaster had had ‘no significant
impact’ on health. Wrong again.
There is some alleged evidence that the state
of Pennsylvania actually hid the health impacts.
According to US journalist Harvey Wasserman,
details of cancers were deleted from the public
record and data showing a tripling of the
nearby infant death rate were ignored.
NUMBER 8: TOKAIMURA NUCLEAR ACCIDENT
On September 30th 1999, two workers at the
Tokaimura Nuclear Facility in the northern
Kantō region of Japan were killed by radiation
poisoning.
The health and safety regulations at the facility
were lackluster, to say the least. The workers
accidentally mixed some highly reactive substances
that should really not have been mixed. This
triggered a colossal chain reaction that killed
them instantly.
It took Japan Atomic Power over 14 hours to
officially acknowledge that the incident had
happened at all and shut down operations.
And then, even when they did acknowledge that
they’d screwed up, they tried to downplay
how serious the disaster actually was. They
announced that the radiation from the leak
was only 250 times the safety limit, when
it was actually 11,500 times this.
And this wasn’t the first time that embarrassing
mistakes had led to major incidents at Tokaimura.
Two years earlier, a fire had broken out at
the facility, which wasn’t noticed until
hours later, when it was too late. This disaster
released radioactive gases into the area.
Initial reports claimed contamination was
only 20% above normal levels - but it later
turned out that they were at least 10 times
worse than that.
So, how come a fire was able to go unnoticed
for so long? Well, it was probably the fault
of seven maintenance staff who were later
found to have been out playing golf.
NUMBER 7: RYANGGANG
Unpredictable, power-hungry and enigmatic
- North Korea is definitely partial to a cover-up
or two. And there are few topics that generate
as much mystery and conspiracy as the country’s
nuclear capabilities.
On September 9th 2004, a large explosion took
place in the northern province of Ryanggang,
about 30 km from the border with China.
There wasn’t a single mention of the explosion
in any of the North Korean news outlets. In
fact, it wasn’t mentioned in writing by
anyone until over 3 days later, when it appeared
in South Korean and Chinese newspapers.
To this day, North Korea deny that the explosion
ever took place. But there’s a popular theory
that the 2004 explosion was the country’s
first baby-steps into the world of nuclear
armament.
Ryanggang is widely believed to contain several
top-secret military installations, including
munition factories and an underground base
rumored to house a uranium enrichment plant.
Just a few months after the explosion, North
Korea made its first ever statement in which
it claimed to own nuclear weapons.
And then there’s the fact that the country
is well-known for making grand military gestures
on historically significant dates - the date
of the blast was the 56th anniversary of the
formation of North Korea. Coincidence? It
seems unlikely.
NUMBER 6: A-4E Skyhawk
We all misplace things from time to time - your
wallet, your phone, your dignity - but the
United States has lost so many nuclear bombs
that it’s just not funny any more.
From the 24-megaton bomb that sank in a North
Carolina swamp to the plutonium-powered sensor
that ended up buried by avalanches in the
Himalayas, these embarrassing mistakes just
keep happening. Just so we’re all clear,
they never found those highly dangerous, nuclear
devices.
Which leads us nicely to December 1965, when
a US military carrier was transporting a A-4E
Skyhawk attack aircraft across the Pacific
Ocean. The Skyhawk had a hydrogen bomb on
board.
Disastrously, during a storm the attack jet
rolled over the side of the carrier and into
the ocean. Along with the super-powerful bomb,
it sank over 10,000 km to the bottom of the
ocean, never to be seen again.
The US government didn’t admit the loss
of the weapon until almost two decades later.
And, when they did admit it, they claimed
it took place nearly 700 km away from where
it actually did.
This is because they wanted to hide the fact
that the carrier was sailing to Yokosuka,
Japan following a bombing mission over Vietnam.
Since World War Two, Japan has expressly forbidden
the US from bringing nuclear weapons into
its territory.
The truth was only revealed when Japan made
a diplomatic inquiry requesting details.
NUMBER 5: SL-1
Staying with the USA now, the disaster at
experimental nuclear power reactor SL-1 receives
the unwanted accolade of being the only nuclear
incident in American history to result in
immediate fatalities.
When the reactor blew up in a colossal steam
explosion on January 3rd 1961, it immediately
killed its three operators.
What is interesting about this particular
disaster is that the US government has not
released an official report about the cause
and effects of the explosion.
They normally do with this kind of event,
so it’s a little bit suspicious that this
hasn’t happened.
The direct cause of the disaster was the unnecessary
withdrawal of the central control rod. This
particular component was kinda essential - as
it’s the part responsible for absorbing
neutrons in the reactor core and, well, stopping
the whole thing blowing up - because science.
Intriguingly, no official sources have been
able to answer why this might have happened.
Similarly, there has been no official statement
about how much radiation was leaked into the
local area as a result.
Since the facility was located in the middle
of nowhere in the remote high desert of eastern
Idaho, this was apparently considered ‘not
significant’.
But considering it took almost two weeks for
the plant to be considered safe enough to
retrieve the bodies of those killed, I’m
gonna go out on a whim and say the release
was pretty damn significant.
NUMBER 4: THE WINDSCALE FIRE
Despite being one of the most high-profile
nuclear disasters of the 20th century, there
is a lot more to the Windscale Fire of 1957
than is generally understood. This is, of
course, thanks to a cheeky cover-up of crucial
details.
The fire at Sellafield nuclear power plant
in North-West England raged for three days
and released radioactive gases into the air.
It has been linked to at least 240 cancer
cases and, even now, costs the British government
$2.5 billion a year in clean-up efforts.
The immediate reaction to the disaster was
to try and pretend like it was no big deal.
Despite 11,000 kg of toxic uranium going up
in flames, people weren’t evacuated from
the facility until several hours after the
fire was first detected.
Desperate to not risk its position as a world
industrial power, the British government refused
to conduct a full investigation into its impact.
Today, if you were to take a geiger counters
to the shoreline near the plant, it would
give readings more than 4 times normal levels
of background radiation. Yet, the area is
completely open for people walking along the
coast, with no warning signs.
A study by the Low Level Radiation Campaign
found that rates of childhood leukemia are
still worryingly high - at least three times
higher than normal rates.
NUMBER 3: VELA INCIDENT
Also known as the South Atlantic Flash, the
Vela Incident was a bizarre incident that
was so thoroughly covered up, that we don’t
actually know what the hell it was.
It occurred at 3am on September 22nd 1979
near the Prince Edward Islands off Antarctica.
Basically, what it was was a gigantic, unidentified
double flash of light.
Because double flashes are characteristic
of nuclear weapons tests in the atmosphere,
a popular conspiracy theory has been spawned
that the Vela Incident was an atomic experiment.
It was first detected by the American Vela
satellite 6911, which had been specifically
designed to detect nuclear explosions that
would flout the 1963 Partial Nuclear Test
Ban Treaty.
US intelligence agencies struggled to determine
who exactly was responsible for the alleged
nuclear detonation. Promising investigations
suggesting that it was the result of a joint
South African-Israeli nuclear test stopped
dead when they couldn’t find enough substantial
evidence.
And then the US government just reacted a
bit suspiciously to the whole thing. They
classified key details about the incident
and dodged questions discussing it. They even
went as far as to claim it could have been
an asteroid instead!
To this day, the source of the Vela Incident
remains a mystery.
NUMBER 2: SEMIPALATINSK
The Semipalatinsk Test Site in Kazakhstan
was the Soviet Union’s primary testing venue
for its nuclear weapons at the height of the
Cold War.
During the 50s and 60s - 456 bombs tests were
conducted there, more than anywhere else in
the world.
You’d hope that this area was chosen because
it was a barren wasteland where the tests
wouldn’t endanger lives. Yeahhhhh no. At
least 700,000 people are estimated to have
lived in the immediate area during the experiments.
In August 1956, one particular test went awry
and engulfed the industrial city of Ust-Kamenogorsk.
At least 600 people were rushed to hospital
with radiation sickness.
The Institute of Radiation Medicine and Ecology
uncovered ‘top secret’ archive documents,
showing that Soviet scientists were completely
aware of how much radiation they were releasing
into local communities.
But they didn’t inform people about the
potential risks they were exposed to, and
continued using the test site as if nothing
had happened.
Today, scientists believe that over 200,000
people have health conditions that directly
result from the radiation from Semipalatinsk.
It’s thought that the fallout is actually
worse than that at Chernobyl, although the
Russian government refuses to admit this is
the case.
NUMBER 1: FUKUSHIMA
Everyone’s heard of the Fukushima Daiichi
nuclear disaster of 2011, but did you know
that it too was the focus of a major cover-up
operation?
The devastating incident took place after
a colossal earthquake caused a 14-meter high
tsunami to smash through the power supply
of three reactors. All three cores melted
in the first three days.
It was rated at 7 on the International Nuclear
and Radiological Event scale, which is basically
as bad as it gets. The only other incident
that was deemed as severe was Chernobyl.
Thankfully, there were no immediate deaths
from the meltdown. However, it’s still too
early to tell how dire its long-term health
impact will be. According to the 2015 Fukushima
Report, about 32 million people have been
exposed to radiation as a result, so it doesn’t
look too promising.
Despite the unmistakable chaos at the plant,
it took well over two months for the Tokyo
Electric Power Company to own up to the meltdown
of its three reactors. The company allegedly
ordered its employees to speak of ‘damage’
to the reactors and deliberately avoid saying
the word ‘meltdown’. Yeah, you’re not
fooling anyone.
As a result of this denial, only 50,000 people
were initially evacuated. As it the severity
of the disaster became clearer, this figure
was increased to over 200,000 people.
It wasn’t until five years later that the
company finally admitted lying about the extent
of the damage and trying to cover it up.
So that was 10 Shocking Nuclear Disasters
That Were Covered Up… which of these did
you find the most surprising? If you found
this video interesting, head over to our friend
Stu at Debunked, and check out his video on
North Korean Myths, where he investigates
the extent of the country’s nuclear capabilities.
As always, thanks for watching… bye!
