Nuclear security

Why the International Day Against Nuclear Tests Is Special This Year

The Aug. 29 date marks 25 years since a major Soviet Union nuclear test site in Kazakhstan closed

The Soviet Union detonated hundreds of nuclear devicesover a period of 40 years at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in Kazakhstan—but all of that stopped when the test siteclosed 25 years ago, on Aug. 29, 1991.

Fallout from the mushroom clouds above ground and explosions below ground did severe damage over time on the surrounding populations, especially in the town of Semipalatinsk (now Semey) almost 100 mi. east of the site. Radiation levels are still as much as ten times higher in the soil and water near the town, and babies were born withdeformities during and after the period of testing. Cancer leveled the population so that, according to a 2016 report, more than half of the town does not live to 60.

Now, the United Nations recognizes the International Day Against Nuclear Tests every year on that date to commemorate the decision by Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev to shut the site down.