Lake Chagan (russian: Чаган) or Lake Shagan ( kk, Шаған, ''Şağan''),
also known as Lake Balapan, is a
lake
A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...
in
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...
created by the
Chagan nuclear test on January 15, 1965, which was conducted as part of the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
Nuclear Explosions for the National Economy
Nuclear Explosions for the National Economy (russian: Ядерные взрывы для народного хозяйства, Yadernyye vzryvy dlya narodnogo khozyaystva; sometimes referred to as ''Program #7'') was a Soviet program to investiga ...
program. A 140 kiloton device was placed in a hole in the dry bed at the confluence of the
Shagan and
Ashchysu rivers. The blast created a crater across and deep with a lip height of ; it is often referred to as "Atomic Lake" ( kk, Атом көлі).
The lake's water comes from the
Shagan River, a tributary of the
Irtysh River
The Irtysh ( otk, 𐰼𐱅𐰾:𐰇𐰏𐰕𐰏, Ertis ügüzüg, mn, Эрчис мөрөн, ''Erchis mörön'', "erchleh", "twirl"; russian: Иртыш; kk, Ертіс, Ertis, ; Chinese: 额尔齐斯河, pinyin: ''É'ěrqísī hé'', Xiao'e ...
. The crater lake's volume is approximately .
To the south, the rim of the crater holds back the waters of a second reservoir.
Locals fish in the lake, despite warnings by authorities that it is hazardous.
Media
In
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...
's documentary series
''Dark Tourist'' (season 1 episode 4, "The Stans"),
David Farrier
David Farrier (born 25 December 1982) is a New Zealand journalist and actor. He has worked in news and documentary, including features on New Zealand television and co-directing the internationally distributed documentary film '' Tickled'' (201 ...
visits and swims in Lake Chagan, as well as eats a fish from the lake, during his tour of Kazakhstan.
See also
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Sedan (nuclear test) – an American cratering detonation
*
Pechora–Kama Canal – a proposed canal project involving nuclear excavation
*
Lake Karachay
Lake Karachay (russian: Карача́й), sometimes spelled Karachai or Karachaj, was a small lake in the southern Ural mountains in central Russia. Starting in 1951, the Soviet Union used Karachay as a dumping site for radioactive waste from May ...
– a natural lake highly contaminated by the dumping of high-level nuclear waste
*
Volcanic crater lake
A volcanic crater lake is a lake in a crater that was formed by explosive activity or a collapse during a volcanic eruption.
Formation
Lakes in calderas fill large craters formed by the collapse of a volcano during an eruption. Lakes in maars ...
– a body of water normally formed by volcanic or meteoric events
References
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External links
*
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Chagan
Chagan
Peaceful nuclear explosions
Explosion craters
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