29th of August is the day which reminds us of the grim history of the nuclear arms race which scarred thousands of lives in Kazakhstan and elsewhere. It is also a day of resistance and resilience of anti-nuclear advocates who fought for the end of nuclear testing commiting to nuclear, climate and social justice for everyone impacted by the creation of atomic bombs which doom our humanity to a total annihilation.
On 29th of August 1949, the Soviet Union carried out its first nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk test site. From 1949 until 1989, more than 400 nuclear weapons were tested on the territory of the test site leaving a long lasting negative impact on the health and environment of local residents. Semipalatinsk test site was located in the north eastern part of Kazakhstan (Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic at the time of the tests). The Soviet leadership chose the territory of Semipalatinsk region as a remote area with flat steppe, alluding that it was uninhabited by people and their habitations. Contrary to the latter assumption, just 120 km from the test site, more than 100,000 people lived in the region’s capital Semipalatinsk (now Semey) and thousands of people lived in villages near the test site. The territory of the former Semipalatinsk test site is large, spanning across three regions of the country and constituting a total 18,000 sq.km.
Up until 1962, the Soviet leadership tested 116 atmospheric tests including the 1953 testing of the hydrogen bomb. At the time of atmospheric (and above the ground tests), local residents of rural areas near the test site always spoke of seeing a big “mushroom cloud” which they did not know was the result of the nuclear test. After atmospheric tests were banned in 1963 by the partial test ban treaty, more than 300 underground nuclear tests were carried out until 1989.
40 years of nuclear weapons testing have left the local population with humanitarian consequences in three regions of the country (Semey, Karaganda, Pavlodar regions). Their health, environment and ecosystem has been irreversibly impacted by ionizing radiation resulting from the nuclear tests. Different types of cancer, leukemia, birth defects among newborns, stillbirths, thyroid and cardiovascular diseases, mental disorders had become common among the local population. Women and children were disproportionately impacted by ionising radiation. The impact affected not only the generation who lived during the active phases of testing but also the third and fourth generations of locals. The intergenerational impact affects not only physical health but also has significant social and cultural consequences, as the region continues to grapple with social and economic inequalities.
Nuclear testing stopped in 1989, and the test site was closed on 29th of August 1991. The cessation of nuclear tests and the closure of the test site did not happen in a vacuum. It resulted from the transnational advocacy of the anti-nuclear movement ‘Nevada-Semey’ (formerly ‘Semipalatinsk’). The movement against nuclear tests united activists in different parts of the world drawing attention to the devastating impact of nuclear tests. The Nevada-Semey movement and the protests against testing did not only stop tests in the Soviet Union period but also galvanized solidarity among peace and anti-nuclear advocates from Kazakhstan and abroad who shared the same fight: achieving the world free from nuclear weapons.
In 2009, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the resolution declaring 29th of August as the International Day against Nuclear Tests. The nuclear legacy of Kazakhstan is nothing but a tragedy for thousands of people. But in this tragedy, Kazakh people found a much needed hope and internal power to continue to speak up against the world’s most horrendous weapons. Kazakhstan’s nuclear legacy reminds the world of the cost humanity will pay if nuclear weapons are ever used again. It reminds us that peace will never be possible in a world with nuclear weapons.
