Lake Karachay

The most polluted place on the planet is Lake Karachay, located near the Ural Mountains in Russia. In 1990, just standing on the shore for an hour would give you a radiation dose of 600 roentgen, more than enough to kill you. The lake is located within the Mayak Production Association, one of the largest and leakiest nuclear facilities in Russia. Lake Karachay is now full of concrete that’s intended to keep radioactive sediment away from shore.