Ozersk, which has a population of just under 100,000, is an attractive city located on Lake Irtyash in the South Urals, midway between the two large Russian industrial centres of Chelyabinsk and Yekaterinburg. Previously known as Chelyabinsk-40 and Chelyabinsk-65, it is best known today as the home of the Mayak industrial complex, the birthplace of the Soviet nuclear weapon programme.

The city grew up 10 km from Mayak, which was the first nuclear company to be formed in the USSR. It remains one of the largest nuclear industrial complexes in the world today. When the production of weapons-grade plutonium ceased in 1987, many staff faced redundancy, and as a result is a top priority area for action to ensure alternative forms of employment are found.

Mayak currently employs 14,000 people, just under a third of Ozersk's working population. The company was responsible for 90 per cent of Ozersk's industrial output in 1997 although this had dropped to 80% by 2004. Today, the small business sector is expanding. In 2003, there were 574 small companies, out of a total of just under 2,500.

The area around the Mayak plant suffered considerable environmental pollution during the early days of Soviet nuclear expansion. A number of lakes and man-made reservoirs were used at various times for the dumping of nuclear waste. In the 1940s, medium-level waste was dumped directly into the Techa River, which flows out of Lake Kyzyltash, which was itself used as a source of cooling water for the plutonium production reactors. In 1951, the waste was diverted into Lake Karachai which also became polluted.

Industry today

The ZAO South-Uralian Construction Company is one of the largest enterprises in the city. It specialises mainly in the construction of atomic energy facilities, and the manufacture of reinforced concrete and concrete construction materials. There are also a number of other construction companies. These include the Electric Device Plant, the Ozersk Wood-Processing Plant, Ozersk Construction Materials; Uralhydromontage, Promzaschita, ChemSteelComplekt, and the Ozersk Repair and Mechanical Plant.

High-tech companies in the city include firms that produce a wide range of electro-technical equipment, including the Ozersk Plant of Energy Units, ENERGOPRO, technological units for chemical industry, including PC PromChemapparat, and polymeric goods, including PC Polymer Growth.