The Polygon

It is easy to say the the Soviet Union and the US have moved past the Cold War by now, but smaller countries still bear the consequences. Semipalatinsk-21, a secret city, was created for the Soviet Union’s military presence and later developed into the Semipalatinsk Test Site during the Cold War. This site was created at its location due to the sole claim claim that it was uninhabited. In reality, however; there were many villages around the border and there was a major city, Semipalatinsk within 160 km. In total, there were 456 nuclear tests, which included 340 underground and 116 atmospheric tests carried out here (Stanford).

These tests devastated the local population due to radiation. People in near villages were estimated to have received average doses around 2000 milli-Sieverts (mSv). Even people 160 km away in Semipalatinsk received doses of several hundred mSv (Stanford). According to Kazakhstan's Institute of Radiation Medicine and Ecology, the total number of people exposed to "substantial radiation doses" from 1949-1962 is estimated to have been between 500,000 and a million. These substantial doses killed cells, damaged organs, and caused rapid death. Even if they were lower doses, they still caused other long-term health issues (ICANW).

The reason for the sheer amount of people that were exposed to substantial radiation doses was that of the concealment of the testing site to the public. When explosions occurred, the 200,000 residents of the Semipalatinsk area, weren’t evacuated or warned (Atlas Obscura); however, local residents became aware of the site to their rising number of health problems. By the year 1960, there was a large rise in the number of birth defects in newborns, and a 300% increase in infant mortality (NIIA). Additionally, cancer mortality rates in local residents had nearly quadrupled by 1975 and there were increases in respiratory and breast cancers (Stanford). Unfortunately, these terrible effects expanded beyond the local population. In Oskemen, 400 km from the explosion, citizens were exposed to fallout so severe that 638 people were hospitalized due to acute radiation sickness (Stanford).

Not only did the Soviet Union not warn the public about the health hazards of the nuclear tests, but they also used them as human guinea pigs. About 200,000 villagers that lived close to the sight essentially became human guinea pigs, as scientists wanted to research the potential dangers of nuclear weapons. Residents were ordered to stay outside during test blasts so that they could later be examined to determine the effects of radiation. This resulted in many later struggling with different types of cancer and more than half of the villagers died before reaching the age of 60 (RFERL).

Unfortunately, despite Kazakhstan trying to repair what occurred, the radiation will continue to harm it. Dr. Talgat Muldagaliyev, a professor at the Radiation Medicine Institute in Semey, the closest city to the Polygon, says,  “our studies show that radiation damages genetic code and the exposed person can pass it onto [the] second or third generation.” This is an important example of the catastrophic impact that nuclear weapons can have on the people.

The US holds a lot of responsibility for what happened in Kazakhstan as it was our bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that led to the USSR into the arms race. It was our escalation of the arms race due to our missile gap fear, that resulted in innocent Kazakhs being used as nuclear guinea pigs. Despite the Nevada-Semipalatinsk Antinuclear Movement protests, Nazarbayev was unable to shut down the Polygon until after the Cold War had ended in 1991.

If you want to see just how devastating our decision to start a nuclear arms race was... just look at the images below:

Nurse Larissa Soboleva holds two-year-old Adil Zhilyaev in an orphanage in Semey, Kazakhstan November 24, 2008. Adil was born blind and afflicted with Infantile Cereberal Paralysis (ICP) and hydrocephalia, as a result of his mothers exposure to radiation during years of Soviet weapons testing during the Cold War. He was abandoned by his parents, and is now cared for in an orphanage. (Ed Ou/Reportage by Getty Images)

Mayra Zhumageldina bathes her daughter, Zhannoor, in Semey, Kazakhstan on March 2, 2009. Zhannoor, 16, was born with microcephalia and sixth-degree scoleosis - a twisted spine because of exposure to high levels of radiation. The defect harmed Zhannoor's brain development as if she were in a permanent vegetative state. She cannot think, speak or perform basic functions. Mayra must bathe her every day because she cannot afford diapers. (Ed Ou/Reportage by Getty Images) 

Berik Syzdykov sits in bed in his mother in law's home inside the nuclear polygon in Kazakhstan February 25, 2009. He was born deformed, and blind as a result of radiation exposure in the womb. (Ed Ou/Reportage by Getty Images) 

Nikita Bochkaryov, 18, is bathed by his father in Semey, Kazakhstan January 12, 2009. Nikita, who has infantile cerebral palsy as a result of radiation exposure in the womb, cannot control his limbs and requires his parents' constant care. (Ed Ou/Reportage by Getty Images) 

One of Kazakhstan's many nuclear orphans. (Ed Ou/Reportage by Getty Images) 

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