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46-448: RDS-4 (also known as Tatyana ) was a Soviet nuclear bomb that was first tested at Semipalatinsk Test Site , on August 23, 1953. The device weighed approximately 1,200 kilograms (2,646 lb). The device was approximately one-third the size of the RDS-3 . The bomb was dropped from an IL-28 aircraft at an altitude of 11 kilometres (7 mi) and exploded at 600 metres (1,969 ft), with

92-527: A district of Kazakhstan that were directly exposed at high levels to fallout from the Soviet bomb tests. These studies concluded that individuals who had been exposed to the fallout between 1949 and 1956 had an approximate 80% increase of mutations in the minisatellite regions of their DNA . The children of these individuals had 50% more mutations in their minisatellite regions compared to their control counterparts. Some health scientists are still not sure what

138-475: A nuclear test near Semipalatinsk in 1955. In this report, a source who was in the vicinity of a Soviet thermonuclear test in November 1955 describes experiencing loss of hearing, "the air... crackling up with pressure" as if the "air was tearing up", and the ground shaking. Ethnographic data from anthropological study detail some of the unique perspectives of those populations that are affected and still live within

184-416: A population of 50, Koyaners have high rates of "anemia, cancer, hypertension, headaches, skin rashes, and bone pain" along with self-reported hair loss, nosebleeds, and cataracts. While unhealthy, Stawkowski noted that there was an absence of "serious and life-threatening deformities" that are portrayed, in media and by doctors, to be prevalent in people exposed to long-term and low-dose radiation. Examples of

230-731: A possible repeat of the December 1986 events in Alma-Ata , but on a republic-wide scale. Ultimately, the decision was made to abandon the site expansion plan. On May 30, 1989, Nazarbayev addressed the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union : I want to especially highlight the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site, which has been active since 1949 and initially conducted atmospheric tests. The population around it has quadrupled since then. But

276-486: A yield of 28 kt. The Soviet Union 's first mass-produced tactical nuclear weapon was based on the RDS-4 and remained in service until 1966.It used a composite core of 4.2 kilograms (9 lb) Pu-239 and 6.8 kilograms (15 lb) 90% enriched U-235 and had a nominal yield of 30 kilotons. RDS-4 "Tatyana" turned out to be very compact - its weight (1200 kg) and dimensions were four times less than that of RDS-1, which allowed

322-598: Is a river in the Karkaraly District of Karaganda Region and the Zhanasemey District of Abai Region , Kazakhstan . The river is 115 km (71 mi) long and the area of its basin is 6,056 km (2,338 sq mi). The water is fresh and is used by locals to irrigate crops and watering livestock. The area surrounding the Saryozen is a seasonal grazing ground for local cattle. The Saryozen valley

368-801: Is located in the Semipalatinsk Test Site complex. A total of 24 underground nuclear explosion tests were performed in wells between 1965 and 1980. The area is contaminated. The Saryozen belongs to the Irtysh basin. It has its sources in parallel rivulets flowing from the southern slopes of the Myrzhyk range and a north-flowing watercourse of Akshok mountain, at the eastern sector of the Kazakh Uplands . The river heads initially eastwards, then it bends northeastwards and in its lower course it bends slightly again and heads roughly northwards. Finally it ends in

414-492: Is our death. We are not deformed, just a little sick." In the same manner, many within the village self-report that when they venture outside the area for supplies, they suffer symptoms such as headaches, dizziness, and stomach cramps, furthering the thought that they have come to rely on the radiation to live. Overall, residents have embraced the radiation as a sign of their own genetic adaptation. According to fieldwork in Koyan, with

460-518: The Akmolaisor (Shalkarsor), an endorheic salt lake . The Saryozen flows across a hilly and rugged region of the highland Kazakh steppe . There are many small endorheic lakes along the river course. The river fills in the spring with melted snow and rain, reaching its highest level at the end of April. By the summer it breaks up into disconnected pools. This article related to a river in Kazakhstan

506-769: The Totsky range (similar to Western Desert Rock exercises), when the bomb was dropped by the Tu-4 bomber (the reverse-engineered Boeing B-29 ). The purpose of this exercise was not to test the bomb itself, but the ability of using it while breaking through enemy defenses (presumably in West Germany ). After the explosion Soviet jet fighters were sent to fly through the mushroom cloud while tanks and infantry were forced to move through ground zero. Semipalatinsk Test Site The Soviet Union conducted 456 nuclear tests at Semipalatinsk from 1949 until 1989 with little regard for their effect on

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552-511: The germline mutations mean for the individuals' health, but there is increasing evidence these mutations may increase genetic predisposition to certain diseases such as cardiovascular diseases . There has also been evidence that increased levels of DNA mutation rates are correlated with prolonged radiation exposure . A longitudinal study conducted over a 40-year span found a correlation between radiation fallout exposure and prevalence of solid tumors. The most frequent sites for solid tumors were

598-548: The 217th Separate Engineering and Mining Battalion, who later built the Baikonur Cosmodrome . Between 1949 and the cessation of atomic testing in 1989, 456 explosions were conducted at the STS, including 340 underground borehole and tunnel shots and 116 atmospheric, either air-drop or tower shots. The lab complex, still the administrative and scientific centre of the STS, was renamed Kurchatov City after Igor Kurchatov , leader of

644-541: The CIA as URDF-3 (Unidentified Research and Development Facility-3) was of great interest to American intelligence agencies. After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, it was discovered that the mysterious URDF-3 was tasked with researching a nuclear thermal rocket similar to the US's NERVA . Information about the test site was first made public during the Glasnost era. Before this, even

690-858: The First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan had neither access to the site nor any authority over its operations. According to Nazarbayev, then Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Kazakh SSR, a few months after the Chernobyl disaster , Moscow sent an order to expand the territory of the Semipalatinsk site into the Taldy-Kurgan Region. Nazarbayev refused to sign

736-451: The Kazakh government allots each resident a one time lump sum roughly equivalent to $ 50 USD. Although there are clear biological impacts of the radiation exposure, the surrounding communities rarely have a sense of nuclear victimization. Although their health is negatively impacted by the radiation, residents see themselves as resilient. Many believe that they have genetically adapted to survive

782-573: The approval of the republican leadership, sent a telegram on February 20, 1989, to the CPSU Central Committee, addressed to M. S. Gorbachev, requesting that “relevant ministries and agencies be instructed to temporarily suspend or drastically reduce the frequency and power of explosions and, in the future, move nuclear testing to another, more acceptable location.” Meanwhile, the KGB reported to Moscow that protest sentiments were intensifying and warned of

828-453: The area around their community while they, the residents, had no need. This further cemented their belief that they must be radioactive mutants. The anti-nuclear movement in Kazakhstan , named Nevada-Semipalatinsk, was formed in 1989 and was one of the first major anti-nuclear movements in the former Soviet Union . It was led by author Olzhas Suleimenov and attracted thousands of people to its protests and campaigns which eventually led to

874-407: The area of radiation exposure that allow those populations to understand their circumstances and the biological subjectivity of concepts like safety and their survival within an area still affected by radiation. The nation of Kazakhstan recognizes more than a million of their citizens as victims of Soviet-era radiation exposure. In one village adjacent to the test site, categorized as "minimal risk",

920-474: The closure of the nuclear test site at Semipalatinsk in 1991. According to UNESCO , Nevada-Semipalatinsk played a positive role in promoting public understanding of "the necessity to fight against nuclear threats". The movement gained global support and became "a real historical factor in finding solutions to global ecological problems". Studies conducted by scientists from Berlin and Kurchatov took blood samples from forty different families who lived in

966-473: The correlation between radiation exposure and thyroid abnormalities. A BBC programme claimed in 2010 that in the worst affected locations one in twenty children born were with genetic defects. British film-maker Antony Butts documented some of the genetic health impacts in his 2010 film After the Apocalypse . A recently declassified CIA report provides a first-hand witness account of the immediate impacts of

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1012-411: The decree to close the site on the spot. The Soviet government conducted its last tests in 1989. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the site was neglected. Fissile material was left behind in mountain tunnels and bore holes, virtually unguarded and vulnerable to scavengers, rogue states, or potential terrorists. The secret cleanup of Semipalatinsk was made public in the 2010s. After some of

1058-480: The document, summoning Taldy-Kurgan’s regional executive committee chair, Seilbek Shaumakhanov, to Alma-Ata and instructing him to spread the word about the expansion plan and to hold a protest rally with an “unexpectedly assembled” public. A significant role was also played by Keshirim Boztaev, the First Secretary of the Semipalatinsk Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan, who, with

1104-418: The entrances covered over. In October 2012, Kazakh, Russian, and American nuclear scientists and engineers celebrated the completion of a secret 17-year, $ 150 million operation to secure the plutonium in the tunnels of the mountains. Large parts of the STS have opened up since 2014, and economic activity has resumed: mostly mining, but also agriculture and tourism. As with other areas affected by radioactivity,

1150-414: The esophagus, stomach, lungs, breasts, and liver. These sites were found to have statistically significant increases in prevalence when compared to a control group. However some bodily sites had no significant difference in number: cervix uteri , kidney , rectum , and pancreas . The study's data suggests that there is a link between exposure length, and amount, to overall and cancer mortality. Nonetheless

1196-417: The evidence villagers cite is anecdotal, and most of the deaths were as a result of alcoholism, overdose, and other challenges that arose after a failure to adapt to a new way of life, to some left behind, it seems that the lack of radiation killed them. This has further cemented their belief that they are 'radioactive mutants'. The locals also believe that their status is backed by science. The basis of this

1242-573: The experimental field. Several U-2 overflights examined preparations and weapons effects, before being replaced with satellite reconnaissance. The US Defense Intelligence Agency who were spying on Soviet Union, believed that the Soviets established an enormous beam weapon station at a small research station located on the testing site. This smaller research station, known to the Department of Defense as PNUTS (Possible Nuclear Underground Test Site) and to

1288-425: The initial Soviet nuclear programme. The location of Kurchatov city has been typically shown on various maps as "Konechnaya", the name of the train station, now Degelen, or "Moldary", the name of the village that was later incorporated into the city. The Semipalatinsk Complex was of acute interest to foreign governments during its operation, particularly during the phase when explosions were carried out above ground at

1334-546: The lack of human interference has made the STS a haven for wildlife. Residents of the test site's surrounding area in the Kazakh Steppe have been affected by the radiation and have suffered from radiation caused illnesses just as other surrounding areas have. However, unlike other communities, some Kazakhs have formed an identity around this fact. Some have even considered themselves to be a new breed of human. As they understand it, they are mutants who have grown and adapted to

1380-435: The local people or environment. The full impact of radiation exposure was hidden for many years by Soviet authorities and has only come to light since the test site closed in 1991. According to estimates from Kazakh experts, 1.5 million people were exposed to fallout over the years. From 1996 to 2012, a secret joint operation of Kazakh, Russian, and American nuclear scientists and engineers secured some waste plutonium in

1426-499: The military is almost trying to convince us that these tests are beneficial to human health. We understand the necessity for the state, but there must be a thorough analysis of the environmental impact of atomic explosions, and this information should be shared with the people. In 1989, the prominent Kazakh activist Olzhas Suleimenov founded the Nevada-Semipalatinsk movement, uniting victims of nuclear testing worldwide. One of

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1472-520: The movement’s most significant events was a mass rally held in the village of Karaaul in the Abay district . The last explosion at the site was conducted on October 19, 1989. One of Nazarbayev’s first decisions as president of the Kazakh SSR was to close the Semipalatinsk Test Site and to fully renounce the world’s fourth-largest nuclear arsenal. On August 29, 1991, the Kazakh SSR government closed

1518-529: The mutations that could be found in Koyaners included "a man born with webbed feet, a woman with one slightly short thumb, and several people living with vitiligo" The nature of these mutations, coupled with the fact that villagers experienced aggravated symptoms upon leaving Koyan, Koyaners insist that they have biologically adapted to and subsequently rely on the radiation. To Koyaners, the prevalence of maladapted animals emphasized their resilience and further proved

1564-491: The new bomb to be taken into service not only by long-range aviation ( Tupolev Tu-4 , Tupolev Tu-95 , Tupolev Tu-16 , Tupolev Tu-22 , Myasishchev M-4 , and Myasishchev 3M ), but also front-line ( Ilyushin Il-28 , Tupolev Tu-2 , Yakovlev Yak-26 , Yakovlev Yak-28 , Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 , and Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 ). A tactical weapon based on the RDS-4 was also used on September 14, 1954 during Snowball military exercise at

1610-523: The public year-round. The site was selected in 1947 by Lavrentiy Beria , political head of the Soviet atomic bomb project . Beria claimed the vast 18,000 km² steppe was "uninhabited". Gulag labour was employed to build the primitive test facilities, including the laboratory complex in the northeast corner on the southern bank of the Irtysh River. The first Soviet bomb test, Operation First Lightning ,

1656-415: The radiation and report that they have come to rely upon it. One villager claimed that "Our organism is different... now accustomed to radiation. For many years we were exposed to radioactive fallout, and now we eat it. Slowly and quietly, our bodies got used to it. Why do you think people don't die [here], but only get a little sick?... Most of us can't live in clean air—we need radiation to survive. Clean air

1702-501: The radiation present in their home. According to unconfirmed sources, the residents' opinion, the air and the food are toxic, and the people consume this and live. They believe they must be adapting to the radiation and that is why people only get a 'little sick'. They even have begun to believe that they are so used to radiation that their bodies require it. This belief has stemmed from the fact that many individuals who left in favour of opportunities in cities have died soon after. Although

1748-531: The relationship between the level of radiation exposure and effect is still up for discussion. The full impact of radiation exposure was hidden for many years by Soviet authorities. The general consensus of health studies conducted at the site since it was closed is that radioactive fallout from nuclear testing had a direct impact on the health of about 200,000 local residents. Specifically, scientists have linked higher rates of different types of cancer to post-irradiation effects. Likewise, several studies have explored

1794-509: The site of the Chagan test , which formed Chagan Lake . Once atmospheric tests were banned, testing was transferred to underground locations at Saryozen , Murzhik in the west, and at the Degelen mountain complex in the south, which is riddled with boreholes and drifts for both subcritical and supercritical tests. After the closure of the Semipalatinsk labour camp, construction duties were performed by

1840-527: The site. On that day, Nazarbayev announced a special parliamentary session to discuss the site’s closure without the Soviet leadership’s consent. The session began in the morning and concluded in the evening. By the end, some deputies and officials from the Semipalatinsk Region requested additional tests to secure the informal compensation promised by Moscow. In his closing statement, the president assumed responsibility and, exercising his authority, signed

1886-487: The success of their own adaptations. As one Koyaner said, "the radiation exposure made everyone 'a little sick', ... but they have survived and live long lives." Semipalatinsk was the site that Kazakhstan , Kyrgyzstan , Tajikistan , Turkmenistan , and Uzbekistan chose for the signing of the Central Asian Nuclear Weapon Free Zone on 8 September 2006, also commemorating the 15th anniversary of

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1932-510: The test site's closing. The 2014 Russian film Test is a fictionalized account of the first Soviet nuclear test from the perspective of some of the local inhabitants. The Dead Lake by Hamid Ismailov explores the effects of the nuclear tests on Kazakhs. 50°23′N 77°47′E  /  50.383°N 77.783°E  / 50.383; 77.783 Saryozen (Irtysh basin) The Saryozen ( Kazakh : Сарыөзен ), also spelled Sary-Uzen ( Kazakh : Сары-Өзен ; Russian : Сары-Узень ),

1978-473: The tests, radioactive material remained on the now abandoned area, including significant amounts of plutonium. The risk that material might fall into the hands of scavengers or terrorists was considered one of the largest nuclear security threats since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The operation to address the problem involved, in part, pouring special concrete into test holes, to bind the waste plutonium. In other cases, horizontal mine test holes were sealed and

2024-407: The tunnels of the mountains. The Semipalatinsk Test Site saw the detonation of the first Soviet atom bomb, and the first air-tested hydrogen bomb. Over the course of 40 years, a quarter of all nuclear tests in history took place here. Since its closure on 29 August 1991, the Semipalatinsk Test Site has become the best-researched nuclear testing site in the world, and the only one in the world open to

2070-524: Was a training exercise performed by the Comprehensive Test-Ban-Treaty Organization (CTBTO). The exercise was based around a hypothetical nuclear explosion, so CTBTO participants wore full protective gear during the exercise. Citizens of a nearby village witnessed this but were neither informed of the 'exercise' nor the reason for the outsiders' presence. As such the citizens perceived strangers having to wear protective gear to enter

2116-567: Was conducted in 1949 from a tower at the Semipalatinsk Test Site, scattering fallout on nearby villages. The same area, "the experimental field", a region 64 km (40 mi) west of Kurchatov city, was used for more than 100 subsequent above-ground weapons tests. Later tests were moved to the Balapan complex by the Chagan River in the southeast of the Semipalatinsk Polygon, including

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