UN urges international help to rehabilitate former Soviet nuclear test site in Kazakhstan

The UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution urging international support for Kazakhstan for the rehabilitation of the former Soviet nuclear test site of Semipalatinsk and the territory around it.

Closed in 1991, Semipalatinsk was the Soviet Union’s main site for testing nuclear weapons. Between 1949 and 1989 the Soviet military conducted 456 nuclear tests there, both under and above ground.

The population in the area surrounding the site was not given any warning or protection – the effects of the nuclear tests on them were seen as part of ‘the experiment’.

People living near the former nuclear testing ground continue to face serious health, social, economic and environmental issues, the UN resolution, which was unanimously approved in November, said.

It urged assistance to Kazakhstan with planning and carrying out special programmes and projects for treatment of the affected people and to ensure economic development in the northeastern Abai Region (formerly Semipalatinsk).

The document also called on the relevant countries and organisations to share with Kazakhstan information and experience that could help with the human and ecological rehabilitation of the area.

It also noted the need to use modern technologies as part of continued international support for dealing with “radiological, health, socioeconomic, psychological and environmental challenges” in the region.

It also stressed the need for a development-oriented approach in addressing the issues related to the former testing ground.

The consequences of the nuclear tests at the Semipalatinsk site for human health and the environment were only studied and made public after the Soviet collapse.

In the late 1990s Kazakhstan and Russia started joint cleanup operations at the site, which involved earthing up and fencing off the contaminated areas and mothballing the remaining testing facilities.

The UN resolution is the 11th document adopted by the organisation on the former nuclear testing site. In 2002 the UN launched 38 projects to rehabilitate the area around the Semipalatinsk site.

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