Ecological Impacts of Large–Scale War Preparations: Semipalatinsk Test Site, Kazakhstan

Abstract

Development and testing of weapons of mass destruction may result in irreversible environmental changes resulting in high social risk and negative effects on human health. The former Semipalatinsk nuclear test site (STS) is a sorrowful monument of the Cold War. Nuclear tests at STS inflicted numerous economic, social and ecological problems on Kazakhstan. In the framework of the NATO “Science for Peace Program,” about 1,400 km2 of the STS have been investigated. According to the results of the Semirad project, the most contaminated area of the southeastern part of the STS is two craters, Telkem-1 and Telkem-2, formed by nuclear explosions. These craters are contaminated with the fission products, cesium-137 and strontium-90, and with components of nuclear fuel, plutonium-239 and americium-241, and the activation product, europium-154. The considerable migration of radionuclides in the 40 years since the tests were conducted was not detected. The calculated effective dose for adults from radionuclides at the Telkem craters is approximately 7 mSv. In the northern part of the STS (Semirad 2 project) the most contaminated sites are located close to the area of radiological dispersion device tests. Annual effective doses from plutonium-239 and strontium-90 can reach over 8 mSv. There is no possibility to detect the dose, largely from micron-sized “hot particles” of high radioactivity spread across the STS territory. The STS is a unique scientific preserve where scientists from all over the world are welcome to conduct research. The Republic of Kazakhstan abandoned its nuclear arsenal and opened the path to the international community to a world free of nuclear weapons.