Radioactive legacy of the Soviet Union in the ruins of the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site

The nuclear program of the Soviet Union began shortly after the end of World War II. Tests were carried out in many remote areas, for example on Novaya Zemlya archipelago, in the Urals and in the steppes of the North-Eastern Kazakhstan. Unfortunately, people continued to live in some of those places.

---

Across the network:

loading...

One of the main test sites was the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site with area of ​​18 thousand square kilometers, which was also called a "Polygon". It is located to the south of the Irtysh river valley in Kazakhstan. Just 150 kilometers east of the test site, Semipalatinsk was located (later renamed as Semey) with a population of more than 100 thousand people. Hundreds of thousands more people lived in numerous small villages 80 kilometers around the test site.

The nuclear arms race during the Cold War was so strong that the authorities dismissed any doubts about the health of the local population and the possible harm to the environment. There is also a possibility that people were specifically made part of experiments to study the effects of radiation.

From 1949 to 1989, the Soviet Union conducted 456 nuclear tests near Semipalatinsk. The experiments were carried out on the surface, underground and in the air, 116 of them were atmospheric tests. From time to time, failures led to the dispersal of radioactive particles and radioactive gases leaking into the environment.

Sometimes, the residents of nearby villages were warned about the upcoming tests. They were recommended to stay outside during the explosion, so as not to die under the rubble when their homes are destroyed. Many residents, who were children at the time, remember that the explosions broke windows in houses and strong tremors were felt at the time of testing.

Let's block ads! (Why?)