Radioactive
contamination in Kazakhstan
A NATO "Science for Peace" study of the radioactive
contamination at the former Soviet nuclear test site in Semipalatinsk,
Kazakhstan, was presented to a Technical Meeting of the International
Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) held in Vienna on 14-18 January.
The NATO project aims to establish the levels of radioactive
contamination in a largely unmonitored area of steppe lying
to the north-west of the village of Sarzhal, Kazakhstan, which
has a population of about 2,000. This 600 square kilometre area
was selected following a joint mission to the test site by IAEA
and NATO teams. The area was in the plume of a 1953 ground-level
hydrogen bomb explosion and lies close to the Degelen mountains,
where 239 underground nuclear tests were carried out.
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After closure of the test site in 1991, information on the
radioactive contamination was classified and controlled by military
departments until 1993, when the first international experts
were allowed access to the site. The Government of Kazakhstan
encourages coordinated collaboration between Kazakh and international
scientists and has approached international agencies for additional
financial and technical support, while the United Nations has
called for the international community to join the effort to
find a viable solution for the ecological problems of the Semipalatinsk
test site.
There are indications that the area selected for the NATO study
was used for grazing by domestic animals before the creation
of the test site and it is hoped that one of the outcomes of
the study will be the reclamation of the contaminated steppe
lands for safe grazing once more.
Additional
information:
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