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'City 40': Secret cities in Russia . . .

108.81.116.219

Billy Wonka

This documentary explains the origin and subsequent lifestyle of living in Russia's secret cold war nuclear cities. City 40 began construction right after Stalin received the plans for "the bomb" from the USA. It became a plutonium and enriched uranium site for the country and still serves as the most major stockpile of nuclear material today.
City 40 and its sister, Mayak, are like roach motels: you check in but you never check out. The security is beyond paranoid and once there you must go through a rigorous screening to visit outside of the city. You can not have guests there, ever. Even today, these cities live pretty much as they did in the 1950's. City 40 has about 100K inhabitants who are mostly all tied to the plants and stockpiles. They have always received the best food stores in the markets and have better healthcare than most Russians. Until the Yeltsin Era City 40 and Mayak were never on a map of any sort. They did not exist as far as Russia was concerned. In fact, until Yeltsin, no one born in these cities had a birth certificate. Citizens can now file for the certificates.
The secret cities all have their episodes of nuclear accidents and this doc goes into them. The documentary interviews and follows a few people but the gist is: If this is the best you got, let me go home to the Bronx.
Compelling in its own way. (NF)

Edits: 10/29/16

Follow Ups:

There are similar (or worse) horror stories about USSR U mining districts. - free.ranger 16:01:36 10/29/16 (6)
Nasty inhuman stories. Thanks for the review.
- As an epilogue of sorts they had a list of cities in . . - Billy Wonka 11:21:07 10/30/16 (5)
  Russia that are still secret/closed cities. Accordingly, they listed ONE city in Nevada that has the same status. Unfortunately, memory does not recall that city -- it was not Area 51 or anything like that.
  - Can't find any references to a closed "city". - free.ranger 18:38:47 10/30/16 (4)
    I did look. Mil sites of course are off limits, and there are several of those in the Basin.
    More readily found are references to fallout sites; most notably Las Vegas and St George UT. LV received quakes and beautiful light shows, but winds blew mostly north or east. St George was where people were based for filming Genghis Kahn, John Wayne's fiasco. He, Susan Hayward, and many others later died from cancer, probably related to high level of blast fallout and radioactive dust blowing in and around the work sites while they were there.
    Other than that, there are references to many ranches with dead radioactive livestock.
    Much of the U mining in the US was in southeastern UT. The big community in those parts is Moab. A book that overs most things regarding U procurement is "Uranium", by Tom Zoellner, cr 2009. Fascinating reading.
    
    Edits: 10/30/16
    - Did you watch the film and see the epilogue? - Billy Wonka 09:09:50 10/31/16 (3)
      If it's a "closed city" you're not supposed to be able to find it. I'd like to know myself because it listed Oak Ridge and a city in Washington as once closed.
      - No, have not seen the film. - free.ranger 09:36:47 10/31/16 (2)
        
        In Reply to: RE: Did you watch the film and see the epilogue? posted by Billy Wonka on October 31, 2016 at 09:09:50
        
        Just trying to add some info, digging through a couple of books I have. Its an interesting topic.
        Los Alamos was a closed city once. Now you can enjoy the sun sitting outside Starbucks.
        
        RE: No, have not seen the film. - Frihed89 04:26:43 11/04/16 (1)
        
        In Reply to: RE: No, have not seen the film. posted by free.ranger on October 31, 2016 at 09:36:47
        
        Under Glasnost, a number of Russian secret cities were opened a bit to allow scientists working under contract to Multilateral donor organizations in order to provide technical support to the USSR. They were, according to all accounts, technologically backward, inefficient and dangerous to humans and the environment.
        
        I don't know what has happened since then, but I really don't trust these kinds of documentaries to explain the situation accurately. They are dominated by conspiracy theories where, in many cases, lack of scientific knowledge, management stupidity and bureaucratic inertia have been the main culprits.
        
        But I do hope this one, gets it right.
        
        Oh, one more thing - Frihed89 04:31:56 11/04/16 (0)
        
        In Reply to: RE: No, have not seen the film. posted by Frihed89 on November 04, 2016 at 04:26:43
        
        Those old early 50s Russian tubes we all like so much were produced in closed cities in the USSR.
        
        Better get out your geiger counters!
Do you ever leave the Barcalounger? - genungo 08:58:39 10/29/16 (1)
How the hell are you able to watch so damn many movies?
- Only for sex. * - Billy Wonka 12:33:15 10/29/16 (0)
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