ABSTRACT
After the Second World War, the devastating effects of nuclear warfare were well known. At the same time, the peaceful use of nuclear energy promised a limitless source of energy and the use of radioisotopes to combat hunger and disease in the world. Thus, radiation knowledge became increasingly important. Against this background, the chapter examines the effects of regional radiation knowledge and regional expertise that have developed in the Southern Urals in the immediate vicinity of the secret city of Chelyabinsk-40 (now Ozersk) after massive release of radioactivity into the environment since the end of the 1940s. The chapter discusses how and when the regional government relied on regional radiological surveys and questioned the restrictions imposed by Moscow. In addition, the significance of this locally developed radiation knowledge in the overall context of radiation expertise in the Soviet Union is addressed. It is discussed to what extent – not least by the omnipresent secrecy – radiation knowledge was bound to personal experiences and what this meant for the career of those who were active as physicists in the exposed area in the long term.
