Semipalatinsk, the crime of nuclear testing

SEMIPALATINSK

THE CRIME OF NUCLEAR TESTING

(Kazakhstan 2019)

Today one of the most frightening threat are nuclear weapons. The threat of additional nuclear weapons testing touches all of us, every day. It is not an issue from the past. It is not an idle threat, waiting somewhere in our future. Many countries are on the verge of gaining nuclear weapons technology. The consequences of nuclear weapons tests are under our eyes: The Semipalatinsk Polygon.

The cold war between the Soviet Union and the United States began immediately after the end of the World War II, around 1947, and ended de facto with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Those were years that indelibly marked the entire world.
In this period the two superpowers, in order to excel over one another, developed atomic weapons. But the development of atomic weapons brought a tremendous and frightening legacy: the shooting ranges of Semipalatinsk, in Kazakhstan, where 456 nuclear warheads were tested.

In Semipalatinsk, the impact of the radiation on the population of the nearby inhabited areas was kept hidden for several decades by the Soviet authorities. The nuclear fallout of the experiments directly affected about 200,000 inhabitants and involved more than a million people. Villages like Znamenka, Sarzhal and Kaynar, which are practically on the border of the shooting range, were never evacuated and the population still lives with the consequences of contamination. But even larger cities like Kurchatov and especially Semey with its 320,000 inhabitants, located just 100 kilometers from the range, were systematically hit by radioactive winds.
What happened on Semipalatinsk Polygon is one of the greatest crimes planned against humanity. The local population was used specifically as guinea pigs to understand the consequences of radiation on people.

Today the life for the local people goes on, struggling among the legacy of the cold war that continue today, and will remains, with its tremendous consequences, for millennia.

A model reproducing the site of the Semipalatinsk nuclear tests in the museum of the Institute of Radiation Protection and Ecology in Kurchatov.

Scientists of the Kurchatov nuclear center wearing protective suits inside the polygon, close to ground zero, where the first atomic bomb was exploded on 1949.

Malformed phoetus due to radiation from the Polygon. One of the consequences of contamination due to the polygon is births defects, malformations and genetic mutations. Institute of anatomy pathology, Semey.

The statue of Lenin in the city of Semey, the former Semipalatinsk. The city has 300 thousand inhabitants and it is situated 100 km from the center of polygon and was heavily contaminated by radioactive particles taken by the winds during the atomic test.

Soviet Kaisanov in the museum dedicated to the liquidators of Chernobyl in Semey. After the Chernobyl accident the Soviet Union sent the army from all the country to Chernobyl to contain the accident. From Kazakhstan 60 thousands soldiers were sent.

The abandoned nuclear laboratories of the Soviet period inside the Institute of Radiation Protection and Ecology in Kurchatov. During the Soviet period the laboratories were used to study the consequences of the nuclear weapons tests.

Naurizbek Umarov 85 years old lies on his bed in his home in the contaminated village of Bodene. He is a witness of the atomic explosions and lives in the contaminated village of Bodene situated close to the border of the Polygon.

Monument to the atom in the city of Kurchatov Kurchatov City is a town in East Kazakhstan Region in north-east Kazakhstan. Named after Soviet nuclear physicist Igor Kurchatov, the town was once the centre of operations for the Semipalatinsk Test site

Mukasheva Mariya, 3 years old, mental retardation and cleft lip. Mukasheva Mariya is a victim of the polygon. Her parents lived in a contaminated village close to the polygon. She was abandoned when she was born. Orphanage for handicapped children, Semey

Berik Syzdykov at his internat in Semey. Berik was born with anomalies after his mother was exposed to radioactive fallout while pregnant. He was living in the heavily contaminated village of Znamenka, situated on the border of the polygon.

A boy with his mother in the main square of Kurchatov City.

The atomic lake created by an underground explosion inside the Semipalatinsk shooting range. Lake Chagan or Lake Balapan, is a lake in Kazakhstan created by the Chagan nuclear test on January 15, 1965.

Rakima 79 years old, in the contaminated village of Bodene Ramika is a witness of the nuclear weapons tests in the Polygon.

An inhabitant along the streets of the city of Kurchatov.

Rsaybaev Koksubai Umurtaevich, 83 years old in his house in the contaminated village of Znamenka. Rsaybaev Koksubai Umurtaevich lives in the contaminated village of Znamenka, the nearest village to the Polygon.

The son and the daughter of Rsaybaev Koksubai Umurtaevich, who died from cancer at a young age They both lived in Znamenka, the nearest village to the polygon, a high contaminated village.

In the foreground the cemetery of the village of Znamenka. The cemetery is very large for a village of 2000 inhabitants. This is due to the high cancer mortality rate due to the polygon.

Scientists of the Kurchatov nuclear center wearing protective suits Inside the polygon, while going to ground zero, where the first atomic bomb was exploded on 1949.

Girls leaving school in one of the main squares of the city of Kurchatov.

Erlan Arapat 4 year old, cerebral palsy, microcephaly. Orphanage for handicapped children, Semey, Kazakhstan.

Ground zero, at the epicenter of the Semipalatinsk Polygon, where the first atomic bomb was exploded. This site in one of the most contaminated place in the world.

Goravanina Fedorova in her home in Kurchatov while preparing dinner. Goravanina Fedorova is living in Kurchatov town. She assisted to the nuclear explosions.

The abandoned military city of Chagan Chagan is a town located close to the polygon, it was Founded in 1950, and during the soviet period was know as Semipalatinsk-4. After the closure of the polygon the town was abandoned.

Viktor Vasilievic, in the hospital in Kurchatov town. He is affected by cardiac problems, one of the most common pathologies due to radiation

Amir Kayirjanov, a scientist at the Kurchatov nuclear center while observing some fishermen fishing in the atomic lake, one of the most contaminated places on the Semipalatinsk shooting range Many people come to the atomic lake to fish.

Breeding horses while grazing along the road leading to the polygon.

The guardian of the Regional Museum of Local History of the City of Semey.

Okhtyanova Renata, 4 years old. organic lesion of the central nervous system. Orphanage for handicapped children, Semey.

The statue of Kurchatov in one of the square of Kurchatov city

The machinery needed to detonate atomic bombs. Museum of the Institute of Radiation Protection and Ecology of Kurchatov.

Buildings inside the polygon that were used to test the atomic explosions. Polygon, Kazakhstan Inside the polygon huge buildings were erected to test the effects of atomic bombs and to protect cameras to document the explosions

This is the only statue of Josef Stalin that has remained in a public place in the former Soviet Union, all other statues have been removed as a result of the crimes committed by Stalin. Semey

Musagalieva Zhanbota, 3 years old, Cerebral palsy. Tetroparesis. Orphanage for handicapped children, Semey

Juri Berezuev, a liquidator of Chernobyl, in the town of Kurchatov under the shadow of the monument to Kurchatov, The soviet Physicist who created the first soviet atomic bomb.

Duisenbaeva Sabira, 82 years old in her house in Bodene village. Duisenbaeva Sabira, has ten children, is one of the direct witnesses of the atomic explosions carried out in the air. She lives in the contaminated village of Bodene

Karipbek Kuyukov is waiting to attend the conference for the Nazarbayev prize. Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan. Karipbek Kuyukov was born without arms as a result of nuclear radiation exposure. He was born in a small village, just miles from the polygon test site.

The road that bring to the polygon from the town of Kurchatov. At the end of this road the polygon starts. From Kurchatov the inhabitants could see the atomic explosions.

Maria lives in the village of Chagan and suffered from breast cancer. Chagan is a small heavily contaminated village close to the polygon. Chagan, Kazakhstan

Children playing in the public park of Kurchatov city.

Akhmetov Emirzhan 2 years old, cerebral palsy, tetraparesis, atrophy of the optic nerve. Orphanage for handicapped children, Semey, Kazakhstan

On the 29th August 2001 a memorial to the victims of Nuclear Test was opened. In Semey there is a tradition: most of the people do their wedding photo shooting under the shadow of the monument dedicated to the victims of Polygon, as a wish for good luck.