Between 1960 and 1980, the Soviet Union deployed nearly 1,000 Beta-M nuclear generators, powered by strontium-90, along its Arctic coastline to illuminate lighthouses. These devices, known as radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs), generated electricity through the heat of radioactive decay. However, following the collapse of the USSR in 1991, many of these generators have gone missing, with some even being looted, exposing dangerous levels of radiation. In 2001, an incident in the village of Lia in Georgia highlighted the risks when three residents were seriously irradiated after coming into contact with exposed radioactive material from a lost generator. The Russian Arctic coastline, stretching over 24,000 kilometers, is a remote and harsh environment, often inaccessible and plunged into darkness for long periods. In such conditions, lighthouses were vital for guiding ships, but traditional power sources were impractical. Soviet engineers devised a solution using RTGs, which harnessed the heat from decaying strontium-90 to generate about 10 watts of electricity. These generators were designed to operate independently for decades, making them ideal for the remote Arctic regions. Between the 1960s and 1980s, the Soviet Union placed more than 1,000 of these generators along its northern coast, primarily around the Kola Peninsula and the Gulf of Finland. Originally intended for lighthouses, they were also used for weather monitoring and military purposes. This deployment reflected the Soviet Union's strategic interest in the Arctic during the Cold War, as control over this region was considered crucial for both military and economic reasons. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the lack of a centralized authority left these generators unmonitored and unmaintained. Approximately 200 of them have vanished from official records, and their exact locations remain unknown. During the economic turmoil of the 1990s, some generators were looted for their valuable materials, exposing radioactive cores that can emit extremely high levels of radiation. In 2001, an incident in the village of Lia demonstrated the dangers of these lost generators when three residents were seriously irradiated after encountering one. In 2001, a program to dismantle these generators was launched with the support of Norway, the United States, and later Rosatom, Russia's state atomic energy agency. The goal was to replace the aging RTGs with safer solar panels. Despite these efforts, more than two decades later, hundreds of generators remain unrecovered. Many have been swallowed by Arctic permafrost or are too remote and costly to retrieve. As a result, these radioactive devices continue to degrade in the harsh Arctic environment, posing an ongoing risk to both the environment and human health.