CIA Concealed Mayak Nuclear Disaster

Before Chernobyl, the Soviets had another massive nuclear disaster in 1957 at the Mayak plutonium plant, which contaminated over 20,000 square kilometers, exposed at least 270,000 people to radiation, and led to the evacuation of around 10,000 people. The CIA, aware of the incident, also concealed it to protect the fledgling U.S. nuclear industry from public hysteria.

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