Covering more than 50,000sq km in the southeast of the country, this region (also known as Dasht-e Lut) has recorded the hottest surface temperatures on Earth: in 2005, a reading of 70.7°C (159.3°F) was measured by satellite.¹

That’s hot enough to fry an egg – quite literally. According to the Egg Safety Center, “Egg white coagulates between 144 and 149°F, egg yolk coagulates between 149 and 158°F and whole eggs between 144 and 158°F”. In fact, it’s so hot and dry in places that not even bacteria can survive – scientists have tested this by opening containers of sterilised milk and leaving them sitting in the sun. They don’t spoil! (In the image below, the lighter the colour, the higher the temperature.)

The highest temperatures were recorded where the surface consists of dark volcanic rock which absorbs the heat of the sun: here the landscape is a mixture of rugged canyons and snaking channels carved out by the rare rains.

You wouldn’t want to live there, but the Lut Desert is rather beautiful when viewed from a safe distance, revealing intricate patterns of stripes, and bizarre-looking dunes, some surrounded by smaller copies of themselves, forming an almost fractal landscape.

Inhospitable as it is, this area is far from, er, deserted. Right on the edge of the Lut are several small towns, such as Shahdad, which look remarkably green from above. Wikipedia suggest a lot of this greenery could be date palms. Even smaller settlements are further out into the desert, with what appear to be irrigation ponds, though quite where the water comes from is a bit of a mystery!

There’s even the odd road – or is it an irrigation channel? Whatever it is, it seems it’s being extended: if you follow the branch off to the west, you can see lots of earthworks (or should that be sandworks?)

Some brave souls, though, obviously prefer to make their own tracks.

Read more about the Lut Desert at Wikipedia

Locations: Iran / Categories: Deserts

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We’re not sure what happened – maybe the construction crew finished up early one Friday afternoon and by the following Monday had forgotten what they were supposed to be building?

Meanwhile in Tehran, a similar situation seems to be coming to an end. We’re told this bridge sat unconnected to anything for at least 8 years, but the construction currently visible at the north end of the bridge may mean that it will finally get put to use some day. Still a bit of a drop if you were to drive off the south end though…

Let us know if you find any more abandoned bridges.

Thanks to Asmir Babaca and Mazi.

Locations: Iran, Netherlands / Categories: Bridges

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Shoreham Nuclear Power Station

This is a plant that was never completed due to community opposition. In the aftermath of the Three Mile Island accident residents were increasingly worried about proximity to nuclear power stations. Shoreham was never finished because residents argued that if anything did go wrong, the population of Long Island couldn’t be evacuated with only one direction to go (west) and only one major road to take (the Long Island Expressway).

Thanks Chris & Thomas Paul

Sequoyah Nuclear Plant

I know you’ve already done a “Nuclear Power Megapost,” but I just ran across this, and think it’s cool that you can almost see directly down the cooling towers. BTW, it’s TVA’s Sequoyah Nuclear Plant.

Thanks Jay K

Chinon Nuclear Power Plant

This is the nuclear power plant of Chinon, a french town best known for its Cabernet Franc wine, with four very pretty cooling towers churning out steam.

Thanks Julien

Weldon Springs

The Nuclear Waste Adventure Trail and Museum at Weldon Spring, Missouri is where the government opened the Weldon Spring site to the public in 2002. The huge waste tomb spans 45 acres and is seven stories tall.

Thanks Bill

Bohunice Nuclear Power Plant

This is Bohunice nuclear power plant in Slovakia. A proper old-skool soviet era reactor. In February 22, 1977, the reactor suffered a major accident during refueling. Because of its age and old design the plant is currently undergoing a decommissioning process.

Thanks FeroG

Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant

This is the Iranian nuclear power plant under construction near the city of Bushehr. These two plants are one of the reasons that Iran and the west don’t get along. In 1995, Russia signed a contract to supply a light water reactor for the plant. Although the agreement calls for the spent fuel rods to be sent back to Russia for reprocessing, the US has expressed concern that Iran would reprocess the rods itself, in order to obtain plutonium for atomic bombs.

Thanks Paul, Bunsen, Pejvak DehDari & Bubba

Enrico Fermi Nuclear Power Plant

This reactor is named after the first physicist to create a nuclear reactor and is located between Detroit, Michigan and Toledo, Ohio. On October 5, 1966 a 94MWe prototype fast breeder reactor called Fermi-1 suffered a partial nuclear meltdown here. Thankfully no radiation was released off-site, and no one was injured.

Thanks David & Joe

I’m sure there are still plenty more interesting nuclear power sites so keep them coming!

Locations: France, Iran, Michigan, Mississippi, New York, Ohio, Slovakia, Tennessee / Categories: Shadows, Structures

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