Elvira Ghajrulina and girlfriends laying flowers at the grave of a mutual friend who according to Elvira “killed himself because he was so sick and had to take so many medicines he couldn’t take it anymore. The boy had several diseases due to the nuclear pollution in Muslyumovo. He was only 22 years old.” Muslyumovo has been contaminated with radioactive material from 1947 until 1954 when the Mayak Chemical Nuclear Complex dumped their radioactive waste in the Techa River which flows through Muslyumovo. Techa river is still highly radioactive, it is forbidden to swim, or drink from the river or grow vegetables at the banks. The village was never evacuated, most of its inhabitants are sick because of the radiation. (Half life book page 6)