35 Years After Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan’s Nuclear Choice Still Challenges the World

Kazakhstan marks the 35th anniversary of the closure of the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site, recalling the Nevada–Semipalatinsk anti-nuclear movement and highlighting continued cooperation between government and civil society for nuclear disarmament. Credit: INPS JapanOpinion by Katsuhiro Asagiri (tokyo / astana)Monday, August 31, 2026Inter Press Service TOKYO / ASTANA, August 31 (IPS) - Across the vast steppe of northeastern Kazakhstan, the scars of the Cold War remain visible. At the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site, the Soviet Union conducted 456 nuclear tests between 1949 and 1989, exposing nearby communities to radiation and leaving health and environmental consequences that have endured across generations. Semipalatinsk Former Nuclear Weapon Test site. Credit: Katsuhiro AsagiriOn Aug. 29, 1991, Kazakhstan closed the site. Thirty-five years later, that decision has renewed relevance. Nuclear weapons are again assuming a larger role in national security strategies. The United States, Russia, China and other nuclear-armed states are modernizing their arsenals. New START, the last treaty imposing legally binding limits on U.S. and Russian strategic nuclear forces, expired in Febru...