The Dark Legacy Of Semipalatinsk
The first Soviet nuclear test at Semipalatinsk on August 29, 1949
An "atomic" lake formed from a crater remaining after a series of nuclear explosions in the Semipalatinsk region.
The village of Sarzhal, located near the Semipalatinsk nuclear field
The soil near a crater formed by a nuclear explosion still has dangerous exposure readings.
Ualikhan Serikkaliev is one of many local children born with birth defects attributed to the nuclear tests. (October 2009 photo)
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (right) visits the museum at the Semipalatinsk test site on April 6, 2010.
An entrance to a bunker at the former Semipalatinsk nuclear test site
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbaev stands before a monument to the nuclear tests in Semipalatinsk in June 2009.
A giant cloud of black smoke arises as Kazakhstan's last nuclear weapons test site is put out of action with a bang in July 2000. The former Soviet republic blew up the sole remaining test tunnel at Semipalatinsk with 90 tons of explosives.