3. Lake Karachay is located in one of Russia’s largest nuclear facilities, which was kept a secret until 1990.
The lake is so radioactive that standing on its shore for one hour would give you enough radiation to almost certainly kill you. While the facility was secret the Techa river provided water to nearby villages making 65 percent of locals ill with radiation sickness, the doctors termed the illness “special disease” and the patients weren’t allowed to mention radiation in their diagnoses.
