Chelyabinsk is the name of a province and its capital city in west-central Russia. It covers an area of about 34,000 mi² (88,060 km²) and has a population of about 3.6 million. Chelyabinsk city lies on the Miass River on the eastern side of the Ural Mountains. Its population in 1990 was about 1.2 million.

Chelyabinsk is best known today as the home of Mayak, a 77-mi² (200-km²) complex where nuclear weapons were built for the former Soviet Union. Because of intentional policy decisions and accidental releases of radioactive materials, Mayak has been called the most polluted spot on Earth.

Virtually nothing was known about Mayak by the outside world, the Russian people, or even the residents of Chelyabinsk themselves until 1991. Then, under the new philosophy of glasnost, Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev released a report on the complex. It listed 937 official cases of chronic radiation sickness among Chelyabinsk residents. Medical authorities...