Techa

{{Expand Russian|topic=geo|Теча|date=March 2025}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}} {{Infobox river | name = Techa | image = | image_caption = | source1_location = | subdivision_type1 = Country | subdivision_name1 = Russia | mouth = Iset | mouth_location = | mouth_coordinates = {{coord|55.7686|60.7339|type:waterbody|display=it}} | progression = Iset→ {{RTobol}} | length_km = 243 | source1_elevation = | discharge1_avg = | basin_size_km2 = 7600 }} thumb|Map of the Tobol basin. The Techa river (<span style="color:blue">''Теча''</span>) may be found to the left center, next to the regional <span style="color:red">'''ЧЕЛЯБИНСКАЯ ОБЛАСТЬ'''</span> (Chelyabinsk Oblast) label. The '''Techa''' ({{langx|ru|Те́ча}}, {{IPA|ru|ˈtʲet͡ɕə|}}) is an eastward river on the eastern flank of the southern Ural Mountains noted for its nuclear contamination. It is {{convert|243|km|mi}} long, and its basin covers {{convert|7600|km2|mi2}}.<ref name=gvr>{{GVR|195865|Река Теча}}</ref> It begins by the once-secret nuclear processing town of Ozyorsk about {{convert|80|km|mi}} northwest of Chelyabinsk and flows east then northeast to the small town of Dalmatovo to flow into the mid-part of the Iset, a tributary of the Tobol. Its basin is close to and north of the Miass, longer than these rivers apart from the Tobol.

==Water pollution== From 1949 to 1956 the Mayak complex<ref>[http://www.rdc.gov.lv/nucpedia/uk/river.htm Techa River] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070911205042/http://www.rdc.gov.lv/nucpedia/uk/river.htm |date=11 September 2007 }}</ref> dumped an estimated {{convert|76|e6m3|cuft}} of radioactive waste water into the Techa River,<ref name="logtv">[http://www.logtv.com/films/chelyabinsk/ CHELYABINSK "The Most Contaminated Spot on the Planet" – a documentary film by Slawomir Grunberg – Log In Productions – distributed by LogTV LTD]</ref> a cumulative dispersal of {{convert|2.75|MCi|PBq|lk=on|abbr=on}} of radioactivity.<ref name="GS-Chelya65">{{cite web|last=Pike|first=John|title=Chelyabinsk-65 / Ozersk Combine 817 / Production Association Mayak|url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/russia/chelyabinsk-65_nuc.htm|publisher=GlobalSecurity.org|access-date=29 September 2010}}</ref>

As many as forty villages, with a combined population of about 28,000 residents, lined the river at the time.<ref name="BuKoWi">{{Cite web |url=http://phys4.harvard.edu/~wilson/publications/pp747/techa_cor.htm |title=Radioactive Contamination of the Techa River and its Effects |access-date=6 March 2008 |archive-date=15 March 2005 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050315111114/http://phys4.harvard.edu/%7Ewilson/publications/pp747/techa_cor.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> For 24 of them, the Techa was a major source of water; 23 of them were eventually evacuated.<ref name="Clay 2001">{{cite journal|last=Clay |first=Rebecca |title=Cold War, Hot Nukes: Legacy of an Era |doi=10.1289/ehp.109-a162 |pmid=11335195 |journal=Environmental Health Perspectives |date=April 2001 |volume=109 |issue=4 |url=http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2001/109-4/focus.html |access-date=29 September 2010 |publisher=National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences |pages=a162–a169 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100602054832/http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/docs/2001/109-4/focus.html |archive-date=2 June 2010 |pmc=1240291 }}</ref> In the past 45 years, about half a million people in the region have been irradiated in one or more of the incidents,<ref name="BuKoWi"/><ref name="Zaitchik2007">{{cite web|last=Zaitchik|first=Alexander|title=Inside the Zone|url=http://www.exile.ru/articles/detail.php?ARTICLE_ID=13122&IBLOCK_ID=35|publisher=The Exile|access-date=29 September 2010|date=8 October 2007|archive-date=2 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221202205801/http://exile.ru/articles/detail.php?ARTICLE_ID=13122&IBLOCK_ID=35|url-status=dead}}</ref> exposing them to as much as 20 times the radiation suffered by the Chernobyl disaster victims.<ref name="logtv"/>

The Tobol is a sub-tributary of the Ob, being linked by the final part of the Irtysh; all three flow generally north.

== References == {{reflist}}

Category:Rivers of Chelyabinsk Oblast Category:Rivers of Kurgan Oblast Category:Nuclear accidents and incidents Category:Water pollution in Russia Category:Disasters in the Soviet Union Category:Radioactive waste Category:Waste disposal incidents Category:1949 disasters in the Soviet Union Category:1956 disasters in the Soviet Union Category:1940s disasters in the Soviet Union Category:1950s disasters in the Soviet Union