Today the level of radiation in the river near Muslyumovo is 400 curies, and the amount of radiation still absorbed by the residents of the village is 10 times the internationally acceptable levels, according to regional environmental officials. Looking back, Lubov Chuchkalova is horrified. People swam in the Techa. They washed their clothes in it and they drank from it. The health effects of the contamination have been devastating, a reality the Russian authorities try to hide.
Health records are off limits.
In 1992 and again last year, Muslyumovo's 4,500 residents, mostly ethnic Bashkirs, a local Muslim nationality, were transported to a regional hospital for examinations by specialists. They have never been told the test results. Local doctors also refuse to supply them with their medical records. To date, Mayak is responsible for releasing at least 16.7 million curies of radiation into the region's air, soil and water. By comparison, the Chernobyl accident in April 1986 released 5.8 million curies.