East Ural Nature Reserve (Russian: Восточно-Уральский заповедник) is a Russian 'zapovednik' (strict nature reserve) that is near the site of the 1957 Kyshtym disaster, the world's second highest radioactivity release after Chernobyl. As a state "radiation reserve", the site functions for the protection of a contaminated area, and for long-term scientific study of the effects of radiation on the forest-steppe ecology on the east slope of the southern Ural Mountains. The reserve is situated in the Ozyorsk, Chelyabinsk Oblast. It was formally established in 1968, and covers 16,600 ha (64 sq mi). The reserve, as of 2007, is under the control of Rosatom, a state-run corporation, which conducts regular radiation and radio ecological monitoring.