The Semipalatinsk test site (STS) or the “Polygon” is a former nuclear weapons testing site for the Soviet Union. The testing site is located in northeast Kazakhstan (then the  part of USSR), around 150 km west of the town of Semipalatinsk (nowadays Semey).

Overall the Soviet Union administered 468 thermonuclear and nuclear testing explosions (including the multiple, up to 5 shots in a row) from 1949 until 1989.  The full results and impact of radiation exposure was totally covered up and kept as state secret for a long time by Soviet authorities and have only been released since the test site closed in 1991.   

It cannot be denied that these tests were done without any regards and care of the people’s health and safety, of the circumstances they may raise, the effect it may have on nature, humans and everything alive. The total power of the nuclear charges tested during 1949-1963 years was 2500 times more than the power of the Hiroshima atomic bomb. By official reports more than 1,5 million people were counted as victims of the nuclear testings, but in reality the number of suffered people was much-much higher. People suffered severe diseases, like oncology, cancer or mental, phsychological illnesses, many died; children were born with anomalies, mutations or with disabilities, as a result of radiation exposure; there was the highest level of maturnuty and children death. No use to describe what was going on with the environment/

After the  «International Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in three environments (in the air, space and under water)» signed on October 10, 1963 in Moscow between the USSR, the USA and Great Britain, only underground explosions began to take place at the test site.

In 1989, the famous Kazakhstani public figure Olzhas Suleimenov organized the anti-nuclear «Nevada-Semipalatinsk» movement, bringing together nuclear testing victims from all around the world.  They have done their best to attract world’s attention to this horror and raise people understanding that it should be stopped.

The last explosion at the site was carried out on October 19, 1989.  On August 29, 1991, the Semipalatinsk proving ground was finally closed by the government of Kazakhstan. This was done under the pressure of the general society of Kazakhstan and worldwide, and  it’s a one of the greatest  achievements for my nation. This year will be 30 years from the last explosion and my country  feels pain and burden of the nuclear arms race.

From 1996 to 2012, a secret joint operation of Kazakh, Russian, and U.S. nuclear scientists and engineers secured the waste plutonium in the tunnels.

Since its closure, the Semipalatinsk test site became the most researched atomic testing site in the world, and the only one in the world open to the public.

In the hazardous areas of the former landfill, radioactive background is still (as of year 2009) reaching 10–20 milli-roentgen per hour. Despite this, people still live on the range , lead the normal household and used the land for grazing . The territory of the landfill was not guarded in any way from the USSR breakdown and, until 2005-2006, was not even marked on the ground and maps. Only in 2005, under pressure from the public and on the recommendation of the Parliament of the Republic of Kazakhstan, government began the work on marking the borders of the landfill site with concrete pillars.  In 2008 scientists of the National Nuclear Center of the Republic of Kazakhstan  started  the creation of engineering protection structures for some of the most polluted sites of the landfill to prevent people and cattle from accessing them. In 2009, an army guard was organized for the Degelen test site. STS is the only one of the many nuclear test sites in the world where people live and use it for agricultural purposes.

It is planned that the majority of the territory, after surveys and studies,  will be returned back to economic circulation, only in case if radiation level low. Experts are currently exploring the territory of the former landfill (18 thousand square kilometers). More than half have already been studied and documented. The most polluted areas have been identified and their localization ensured. A complete survey of the former test site will be finished by 2021, after which land reclamation will be started.

 The sites with low levels of radioactive contamination have been recommended for conversion into industrial, transport, communications, defense and other non-agricultural land, the document says.

 Already, there are examples of industrial land use landfill. So, on the territory where nuclear explosions were once carried out, the Karazhyra coal deposit is now being developed. Fuel is supplied to the population, thermal power plants and enterprises of the East Kazakhstan region.

Semipalatinsk nuclear testing site is heavy and dark part of the history of my country, which 30 years later still poisons the health of people and ecology. It is very hard to accept that the government in aiming   the army superiority was ready to sacrifice the future of the it own people, but we have to. We have to this truth to learn the lesson for future and never let something similar happen.

Nuclear weapon has no place on Earth! And we should stand on it forever!

P.S. I didn't attach the photoes of the victims of STS not to distract you too much, I cannot keep my anger and tears when I see how STS ruined people and nature