75 years ago, on August 29, 1949, the first nuclear weapon in the Soviet Union was tested at the Semey test site.
During the 40-year (1949-1989) nuclear test, the Soviet military and scientists detonated 460 nuclear, thermonuclear and hydrogen weapons on the ground, in the air, underground and under water at the Semey nuclear test site.
Radioactive clouds of 55 air and surface explosions and gas extracts of 169 underground tests spread from the territory of the landfill. It was these 224 explosions that had a direct impact on the radiation exposure of eastern Kazakhstan.
More than 1 million Kazakhs became victims of nuclear weapons. Residents of settlements near the Semipalatinsk landfill fell ill. Cancer, nervous system, gonorrhea appeared, seriously ill babies were born due to radiation in East and North-East Kazakhstan.
Since the end of 1980, the citizens of the Kazakh SSR demanded the closure of the test site, and due to this, nuclear tests were stopped.
