Semipalatinsk

Testing Site
By Kassym, Alikhan and Sherali
 About Semipalatinsk testing site

Outline What kind of nuclear testing were

there?

Semipalatinsk pollution and landfill

consequences

Landfill closure
About Semipalatinsk testing site
• The primary nuclear weapon
test site for the USSR up
until 1991 was the
Semipalatinsk Test Site,
sometimes referred to as the
Polygon, located close to
Semey (formerly
Semipalatinsk). It has been
dozens of scientists' visits
since 1991, making it the
most thoroughly studied
nuclear test site in the
world. Additionally, it is the
only nuclear test site that
visitors may visit worldwide.
What kind of nuclear
testing were there?
• On the Polygon, the first hydrogen bomb test took place in 1953.
Between 1949 and 1962, 116 atmospheric nuclear explosions (either
dropped from a tower or from an airplane) took place. These tests
were the most harmful to the local population's health. 340 nuclear
explosions were then carried out underground in tunnels and
boreholes up to the testing's conclusion in 1989.
• In addition, 175 radioactive warfare agent explosions occurred.
• Lavrentiy Beria, the political director of the Soviet atomic bomb
project (Beria erroneously stated the huge 18,000 km2 steppe
was unoccupied), chose the location in 1947. The rudimentary
testing facilities were constructed using labor from gulags.
Operation First Lightning, the first Soviet bomb test, was carried
out in 1949 from a tower at what would later become known as
the Opytnoye Pole (experimental field).
• A US weather reconnaissance aircraft, equipped with a special
filter to catch radioactive waste, was traveling from Japan to
Alaska when it discovered the explosion. Weeks after the
explosion, President Truman disclosed to the world that the
Soviets had created an atomic weapon. The announcement
marked a turning point in the newly escalating Cold War. The
race to develop nuclear weapons had begun. Pressure to create
the first hydrogen bomb increased once it was revealed that the
Soviet Union had the atomic bomb.
 Semipalatinsk
pollution and landfill
consequences
• A significant quantity of radioactive pollution was
released into the lithosphere as a result of more than
450 ground and subterranean nuclear contaminations
in the vicinity of the Semipalatinsk test site.
• Many living things, including the populations of many
different nations, have suffered.
• Areas where radioactive contamination is present.
• Large territories adjacent to the nuclear test site were
exposed in addition to portions of the Semipalatinsk
region (Pavlodar, Karaganda, East Kazakhstan,
Zhezkazgan, regions of Kazakhstan and the Altai
Territory of the Russian Federation).
 Semipalatinsk pollution and landfill
consequences
• The radioactive background level is hundreds of times higher than the
allowable amount in certain locations, where it approaches 15,000 micro-
roentgens per hour. The extent of polluted territories is more than 300
thousand km. More than 1.5 million individuals call it home. The level of
radionuclides that humans have already accumulated is much greater than
the average, despite the fact that the present radioactive exposure in
populated regions is only marginally higher than the background radiation.
In eastern Kazakhstan, cancer-related illnesses are now among the most
widespread. According to specialists, oncological malignant tumors will
continue to emerge among residents of Semipalatinsk at least until 2012.
 Landfill closure
• Olzhas Suleimenov, a well-known writer and public personality from Kazakhstan, spoke out
against nuclear testing in his address on February 26, 1989, which was broadcast live on
television. A resolution was taken on February 28 to form the Nevada-Semipalatinsk anti-nuclear
movement, which was officially registered in April 1989, during a demonstration held next to the
Writers' Union headquarters in Alma-Ata. Olzhas Suleimenov called a national moratorium when
any additional test would result in a general strike in Kazakhstan in his statement at the Supreme
Council session, citing the government's failure to honor commitments to minimize the
frequency and strength of explosions. Olzhas spoke during a meeting of the USSR's Supreme
Soviet at the end of October of that year. At the end of October of the same year, at a session of
the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Olzhas Suleimenov and academician Andrei Sakharov put
forward a proposal to proclaim a unilateral indefinite moratorium on nuclear explosions by the
USSR. On November 14, 1989, the Supreme Soviet of the Kazakh SSR adopted a resolution on
the harmful effects of tests on public health and an appeal to the Supreme Soviet and the
Government of the Soviet Union demanding the closure of the nuclear test site. On November
27, 1989, a Resolution of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was adopted with instructions to the
government of the country to consider the closure of the Semipalatinsk test site.
Landfill closure
Olzhas Suleimenov and professor Andrei Sakharov
proposed a unilateral, indefinite moratorium on nuclear
explosions by the USSR during a meeting of the Supreme
Soviet of the USSR at the end of October of the same
year. The Supreme Soviet of the Kazakh SSR passed a
resolution on the negative effects of testing on public
health and a letter to the Supreme Soviet and the Soviet
Union's government requesting the closure of the
nuclear test site on November 14, 1989. On November
27, 1989, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR passed a
resolution directing the nation's administration to take
the Semipalatinsk test site's shutdown into
consideration.
 The End of Semipalatinsk Testing Site

The long battle to put an end to nuclear testing at the

Semipalatinsk test site was successful on August 29, 1991. The
• OnDecree
August 29,"On the Closure of the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site"
1991, the intense
was signed by struggle
N. A.toNazarbayev,
end nuclear testing
President of the Republic of
at the Semipalatinsk test site was crowned with
Kazakhstan.
success. The Kazakhstan was the first country to make a
significant
President of the contribution to global nuclear disarmament by
Republic of Kazakhstan
N.A.closing the Semipalatinsk nuclear
Nazarbayev signed the Decree “On the test
clos site, which had the
urefourth-highest
of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test
potential for site”.
destruction in the world.
Kazakhstan was the first to take a real step towar
ds universal nuclear disarmament: it closed the
S emipalatinsk nuclear test site -
the fourth nuclear potential in the world in term
s of its destructive power.
The program of the movement "Nevada -
• TheSemipalatinsk"
program of the movement joined the- program of the worldwide
"Nevada
Semipalatinsk" joined the program of the intern
anti-nuclear
ational alliance. It was decided to ratify the
anti-nuclear alliance.
TheComprehensive
Comprehensive Nuclear Nuclear
Test BanTest Ban Treaty. Most
Treaty
was adopted. Most countries put their
nations
signatures added
un der it. their signatures to it.
References

• Движение “Невада-Семипалатинск” — Коммунальное государственное учреждение “Областная

универсальная библиотека имени Абая” управления культуры, развития языков и архивного дела
области Абай. (n.d.). Retrieved September 27, 2022, from https://semeylib.kz/?page_id=3351&lang=ru

• Семипалатинский ядерный полигон. (n.d.). Retrieved September 27, 2022, from

http://www.ecoproblems.org/2009/01/blog-post_29.html

• Semipalatinsk Test Site: How to Visit, History and Future. (n.d.). Caravanistan. Retrieved September 27,
2022, from https://caravanistan.com/kazakhstan/north/semey/kurchatov-polygon/

• Semipalatinsk Test Site. (n.d.). The Nuclear Threat Initiative.

https://www.nti.org/education-center/facilities/semipalatinsk-test-site/
Thank You
for Attention