WNAM REPORT: On August 29, Kazakhstan is marking the 33rd anniversary of the closure of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, reports a correspondent.
On this day in 1991 was signed the decree “On the Closure of the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site” which was the second most powerful in the world after the Nevada Test Site and the fourth-largest nuclear arsenal globally, containing more than 1,000 warheads.
This date holds historical significance not only for the Republic of Kazakhstan but also for the global community. The closure of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site was a pivotal event and marked the beginning of the global anti-nuclear movement.
The Republic’s decision to close the site was recognized on the international stage, and on December 2, 2009, at Kazakhstan’s initiative, the United Nations General Assembly declared August 29 as the International Day against Nuclear Testing. The Republic of Kazakhstan became the first country in history to renounce nuclear weapons and close this test site. Since then, Kazakhstan has made denuclearization one of the key issues in its foreign policy.
Following Kazakhstan’s lead, other Central Asian countries—Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan—rejected the production, acquisition, testing, and possession of nuclear weapons, thereby creating a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Central Asian region.
On February 14, 1994, Kazakhstan joined the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons as a non-nuclear state. In 1995, the Republic of Kazakhstan was accepted as an observer at the United Nations Conference on Disarmament. Kazakhstan actively participated in the development and adoption of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty and was one of the first to sign it on September 30, 1996.
The Semipalatinsk nuclear test site was a product of the nuclear arms race. The construction of the test site began in 1947 during the Soviet Union period and was completed in two years. Over 40 years, approximately 500 nuclear tests were conducted on this 18,500 square kilometer territory, during which more than 600 nuclear and thermonuclear devices were detonated.
According to experts, the total yield of the nuclear charges tested at the site from 1949 to 1963 alone exceeds the power of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima by 2,500 times. The victims of these tests are over one million Kazakhstani people.
The test site is located in Kazakhstan at the border of the Semipalatinsk (now Abay), Pavlodar, and Karaganda regions, 130 kilometers northwest of Semipalatinsk (now Semey), on the left bank of the Irtysh River. It covers an area of 18,000 km².
To this day, Kazakhstan remains a steadfast advocate for nuclear non-proliferation and actively supports various initiatives aimed at the safe use of nuclear energy. One significant way our country has implemented this policy is by establishing the Low-Enriched Uranium Bank on its territory under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). This initiative allows other nations to safely utilize nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, reducing the need for uranium enrichment.
