X-Nico

unusual facts about Semipalatinsk Test Site



12th Chief Directorate

The agency is also responsible for testing of nuclear charges, for ecological safety of such testing, and for maintenance of Soviet/Russian testing grounds, known in Russian as “polygons” – in Semipalatinsk (Semipalatinsk Test Site, now Kazakhstan) and on Novaya Zemlya Archipelago.

Bakhytzhan Kanapyanov

Bakhytzhan was an active member of Nuclear disarmament movement and together with Olzhas Suleimenov was one of the founders of "Nevada-Semei" movement which ultimate aim was to close the nuclear test centers in Semipalatinsk and Nevada.

Kurchatov, Kazakhstan

Named after Soviet nuclear physicist Igor Kurchatov, the town was once the centre of operations for the adjoining Semipalatinsk Test Site.


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