SakshiMining and Chemical Combine
Zheleznogorsk is located 60 km north of Krasnoyarsk that is considered Siberia’s one of the largest cities and is situated in the southern part of central Siberia. Clearly, Zheleznogorsk was constructed as a satellite city pertaining to one of the eminent nuclear weapons production centers in Russia namely Mining and Chemical Combine (MCC).
Krasnoyarsk-26
Another name given to this region is “Krasnoyarsk-26.” The place remained a mystery for Soviet people until “Glasnost” era began in the latter half of the 1980s. Thanks to the “Glasnost era” that focussed on transparency the secret finally came out in the public domain. Surprisingly, before that, the region had no trace even on official maps.
Makes A Perfect Home
Even though Zheleznogorsk remained “closed,” and secret for many years, it was still quite a good place to reside in. As there was no paucity of funds, workers residing in the region never faced a hardship of any kind. In fact, the home it provided was just like any other Soviet houses. There was no difference!
Full Of Facilities
Well, the houses there just like any other house was laced with even more facilities. Yes, The house they were allotted had way more facilities then the ordinary Soviet citizens used to have. There was never a scarcity of food and had departmental stores deployed almost at every other turn of the road that provided all the items a citizen can need. What more, they even had a comparatively lower crime rate.
No Trespassing
Due to the fact that the region was fully secured, it was very difficult for the non-residents to move around its frontiers. Along with that, there was no way, they were going to keep Zheleznogorsk a secret forever. CIA smelled a rat and soon figured that Soviet had constructed a plutonium facility around Krasnoyarsk. They even published a report stating the same in 1962.
Not Environment-Friendly
But as they say, everything comes with negative and positive aspect both. Though it was indeed a matter of proud for the nation, the developments were inflicting some serious injury to the health of the country. They used to dispose of residue neighboring river that would carry the wastes to the cities.