The anti-nuclear movement in Kazakhstan, "Nevada Semipalatinsk", was formed in 1989 and was one of the first major

anti-nuclear movement The anti-nuclear movement is a social movement that opposes various nuclear technologies. Some direct action groups, environmental movements, and professional organisations have identified themselves with the movement at the local, natio ...

s in the former

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

. It was led by author

Olzhas Suleimenov Olzhas Omaruly Suleimenov ( kz, Олжас Омарұлы Сүлейменов, ''Oljas Omarūly Süleimenov''; russian: Олжа́с Ома́рович Сулейме́нов, ''Olzhas Omarovich Suleymenov'') is a Kazakh former Soviet dissident, ...

and attracted thousands of people to its protests and campaigns which eventually led to the closure of the

nuclear test site Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine nuclear weapons' effectiveness, yield, and explosive capability. Testing nuclear weapons offers practical information about how the weapons function, how detonations are affected by ...

Semipalatinsk Semey ( kk, Семей, Semei, سەمەي; cyrl, Семей ), until 2007 known as Semipalatinsk (russian: Семипала́тинск) and in 1917–1920 as Alash-kala ( kk, Алаш-қала, ''Alaş-qala''), is a city in eastern Kazakhst ...

in north-east Kazakhstan in 1991. The movement was named "Nevada Semipalatinsk" in order to show solidarity with similar movement in the west of the United States aiming to close the

Nevada Test Site The Nevada National Security Site (N2S2 or NNSS), known as the Nevada Test Site (NTS) until 2010, is a United States Department of Energy (DOE) reservation located in southeastern Nye County, Nevada, about 65 miles (105 km) northwest of the ...

. The Soviet Union conducted 456

nuclear weapons tests Nuclear weapons tests are experiments carried out to determine nuclear weapons' effectiveness, yield, and explosive capability. Testing nuclear weapons offers practical information about how the weapons function, how detonations are affected b ...

at the Semipalatinsk Test Site, between 1949 and 1989. The

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

believes that one million people around Semipalatinsk were exposed to radiation, and the incidence of birth defects and cancer is much higher than for the rest of the country.World: Asia-Pacific: Kazakh anti-nuclear movement celebrates tenth anniversary
''BBC News'', February 28, 1999.Matthew Chance

''CNN.com'', August 31, 2007. According to

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

, Nevada-Semipalatinsk played a positive role in promoting public understanding of "the necessity to fight against nuclear threats".Kazakhstan - Audiovisual documents of the International antinuclear movement “Nevada-Semipalatinsk”
/ref> The movement gained global support and, became "a real historical factor in finding solutions to global ecological problems". Astana hosted an international conference Building a Nuclear-Weapons-Free World in August 2016. The topics of the conference included nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament and the physical protection of nuclear weapons. The main outcome of the conference was the adoption of The Astana Vision Declaration “From а Radioactive Haze to a Nuclear-Weapon-Free World.”

References

External links

Nuclear politics and the future security of Kazakhstan
{{Anti-nuclear movement , state=expanded

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

Political movements in Kazakhstan Nuclear technology in Kazakhstan Protests in Kazakhstan Anti-nuclear movement in the Soviet Union

See also

References

External links