This paper investigates the central role of the Urals and Siberia for the Soviet nuclear programme during the 25-year-period of 1966-1991, with a special focus on the role of water as a technological means and corresponding envirotechnical water systems.

The Urals have shown their centrality for the Soviet nuclear geography in multiple ways. While most electricity was and is consumed west of the mountain ranges, crucial steps of the nuclear lifespan, such as mining, fuel element production and reprocessing are located within the Urals and in Siberia. It is this specific geographic setup that make a discussion of the relationship(s) between humans, waterways, and the environment in regard to nuclear worthwhile. 

Since during Soviet times a narrative prevailed that focussed on conquering nature, deeply embedded in the separation of human and nature, the limitations of this way of conceptualising nuclear energy became apparent in failures, such as the Mayak incident. The ecological crisis through which we are living right now, calls for a re-thinking of this nature-culture divide. In terms of the nuclear geography, this means that we as humans are not so separated anymore from artificial radioisotopes. The Anthropocene clearly shows, how first humankind altered the natural landscape through the establishment of large technological systems, such as the Soviet nuclear production process. Conversely, our way(s) of living and our bodies got changed by that as well. Therefore, our human embeddedness with technology and nature needs to be rethought and reevaluated. Only then can the human connection to nature be reconciled, and the challenges we are facing solved within a framework of advancing society’s prosperity and conserving nature at the same time.

What can an analysis of the Soviet way of organising the nuclear geography tell us in this regard? By outlining the way it was arranged, pointing towards the idea of creating joint energy complexes and following the single steps of the nuclear lifespan encompassing the Pryagunskyi mine and the Mayak facilities, this paper tries to clearly describe and interpret the character of human-water-environment relationships during the Soviet period. The centrality of the Urals and Siberia for this process needs to be pointed out, since most research focusses on developments in the European parts of the Union and its former Warsaw-Treaty-allies.