| Lake Chagan | |
|---|---|
| Шаған | |
.jpg) | |
  Lake Chagan  Lake Chagan | |
| Coordinates | 49°56′7″N 79°0′30″E / 49.93528°N 79.00833°E |
| Basin countries | Kazakhstan Soviet Union (Former) |
| Water volume | 10,000,000 m3 (8,100 acre⋅ft)[1] |
Lake Chagan (Russian: Чаган) or Lake Shagan (Kazakh: Шаған, Şağan),[2][3] also known as Lake Balapan, is a lake in Kazakhstan created by the Chagan nuclear test on January 15, 1965, which was conducted as part of the Soviet Union's Nuclear Explosions for the National Economy program. A 140 kiloton device was placed in a 178-metre-deep (584 ft) hole in the dry bed at the confluence of the Shagan and Ashchysu rivers. The blast created a crater 400 m (1,300 ft) across and 100 m (330 ft) deep with a lip height of 20 to 38 m (66 to 125 ft); it is often referred to as "Atomic Lake" (Kazakh: Атом көлі). The water continues to be radioactive – about 100 times more than the permitted level of radionuclides in the water.[4]
The lake's water comes from the Shagan River, a tributary of the Irtysh River. The lake was filled by the Soviet Union shortly after the nuclear blast. The crater lake's volume is approximately 10 million m3 (350 million cu ft).[1] To the south, the rim of the crater holds back the waters of a second reservoir.
It was estimated that some 20% of the radioactive products from the Chagan test escaped the blast zone, and were detected over Japan. This infuriated the United States for violating the provisions of the October 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty, which banned atmospheric tests.[5]
Locals fish in the lake, despite warnings by authorities that it is hazardous.[6]
In Netflix's documentary series Dark Tourist (season 1 episode 4, "The Stans"), David Farrier visits and swims in Lake Chagan, and eats a fish from the lake, during his tour of Kazakhstan.
