Official reports from the Supreme Soviet of the USSR indicate that during the 40-year history of the Mayak combine, 10,000 people experienced symptoms of radiation sickness, and 4000 died as a result of its acute course.
The disaster itself was said to have caused the deaths of "only" 200 people. The significant underestimation of these results is evidenced, among other things, by the failure to keep records of the catastrophe's liquidators and deaths among prisoners working at the combine. Reports from people working at the Chelyabinsk facility indicate that the death toll could have been more than 10,000, and those exposed to radiation sickness, disability, or malignant tumors even more than 400,000.
