Soviet Nuclear Devastation of Kazakhstan - Cold War DOCUMENTARY

Aug 10, 2023

Soviet Nuclear Devastation of Kazakhstan - Cold War DOCUMENTARY

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Our historical documentary series on the history of the Cold War continues with a video on the Semipalatinsk Test Site - Polygon, where the Soviet Union conducted most of its atomic bomb tests, leading to the nuclear devastation in Kazakhstan.

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#ColdWar #Semipalatinsk #Nuclear

Content

0.179 -> the decision to use Atomic weapons in

2.22 -> the war against Japan in August of 1945

4.56 -> set in motion a nuclear arms race that

7.08 -> helped Define the Cold War in previous

9.84 -> episodes we've explored how nuclear

11.76 -> weapons developed in the United States

13.259 -> in Great Britain and in the USSR during

16.02 -> the immediate post-war period but we

18.779 -> didn't look at the impacts of those

20.58 -> nuclear programs particularly related to

23.1 -> the regions in which the testing took

24.84 -> place I'm your host David and today we

27.18 -> are going to look at the effects of the

28.92 -> Soviet nuclear program with particular

31.019 -> focus on Kazakhstan this is the Cold War

41.94 -> one of my favorite things about studying

44.28 -> history is learning something new

46.079 -> especially when it's related to

48.059 -> something I thought I knew a lot about

49.68 -> that's why I was so thrilled when I

52.14 -> discovered a new video Lisa meitner the

54.48 -> mother of the atomic bomb from the

56.28 -> sponsor of this episode Magellan TV

59.16 -> the episode tells the story of the

61.02 -> physicist Lisa meitner whose small

63.6 -> research team discovered that splitting

65.82 -> the atomic nucleus of uranium would

67.74 -> release a massive amount of energy

69.74 -> leading Albert Einstein to dub her the

72.54 -> German Mary Curie and one of the best

75.06 -> things about the video it is completely

77.4 -> ad-free just like every video on

79.92 -> Magellan TV including the new 4k content

82.56 -> that's being added every week

84.84 -> and Cold War viewers will get a one

87.24 -> month free trial by clicking on the link

89.22 -> in the description make sure to start

91.14 -> your free trial of Magellan TV so you

93.6 -> can join us in watching Lisa meitner the

96.36 -> mother of the atomic bomb

98.64 -> between 1949 and 1989 the Soviet Union

101.64 -> conducted over 700 nuclear weapons tests

104.4 -> the overwhelming majority of which were

106.439 -> conducted in kazakhstan's semi-palatinsk

109.259 -> test site known as the polygon Soviet

112.56 -> nuclear testing would prove to have

114.36 -> expectedly horrifying impacts on nearby

117.18 -> residents but it also intertwined with

119.7 -> late Soviet politics and the realization

122.22 -> of kazakhstan's Independence and the

124.799 -> ultimate collapse of the Soviet Union

127.259 -> but before we dive into Kazakhstan and

130.2 -> semi balatinsk in detail it's first

132.72 -> worth briefly recapping the development

134.7 -> of the Soviet nuclear weapons program

137.22 -> throughout the second world war Soviet

138.959 -> Espionage had penetrated the US's Atomic

141.599 -> program the Manhattan Project after the

144.42 -> July 1945 Potsdam Conference during

146.819 -> which U.S president Harry Truman

148.92 -> disclosed to Stalin about the atomic

151.08 -> bomb even if Uncle Joe already knew

153.42 -> about it and then followed by the actual

155.459 -> use of the atomic bomb in Japan a month

157.44 -> later Stalin immediately instructed the

160.26 -> ussr's top scientists to escalate work

163.5 -> on the soviet's own project as a matter

165.78 -> of urgency

167.34 -> Stalin's Infamous police chief lavarenti

170.04 -> Beria personally oversaw its

172.14 -> implementation and why Baria you might

174.72 -> ask well as Stalin's right-hand man

177.12 -> varia had developed not only a

179.16 -> reputation as a connoisseur of brutality

181.379 -> and torture but also one of

183.42 -> organizational skill in secret

185.16 -> operations

186.54 -> Beria accordingly began recruiting top

188.94 -> scientists to spearhead the soviet's

191.04 -> atomic bomb development

192.78 -> at a time when staccanovites workers

195.12 -> identified for making a significant

196.8 -> contribution to the ussr's Industrial

199.08 -> Development were heavily revered and

201.48 -> rewarded the nuclear project was not

203.879 -> short of enthusiasts

206.4 -> two figures in particular Igor korchatov

209.04 -> and Yuli hariton would prove highly

211.739 -> consequential kurchatov hailing from UFA

214.92 -> was the leader of scientific development

217.5 -> given his background in nuclear physics

220.379 -> their secret City that housed those who

222.659 -> worked on the atomic bomb project in

224.519 -> Sami balatinsk was even named after him

227.299 -> gorchakov he would also later receive

230.28 -> the hero of socialist labor award the

232.92 -> highest civilian title in the USSR

235.799 -> had it on perhaps more interestingly and

238.14 -> certainly more unusually was educated at

240.42 -> Cambridge University in Britain and was

242.7 -> ethnically Jewish as togejan Casanova

245.64 -> States in her recent excellent work

247.62 -> Atomic step hariton was likely spared

250.62 -> from Stalin's purges precisely because

252.9 -> of his importance to the Soviet nuclear

255.42 -> weapons program

257.04 -> so by 1947 then Maria had the Manpower

260.4 -> and resources he needed to test the

262.38 -> Soviet Union's first successful atomic

264.78 -> bomb but there was another challenge

266.82 -> where should the bomb be detonated

269.46 -> as I mentioned earlier it was ultimately

271.58 -> semi-paladinsk in the Kazakh SSR that

274.5 -> became the key testing site for nuclear

276.84 -> weapons in the Soviet Union there are a

279.479 -> number of reasons for this one to quote

282 -> Joanna lillis from her book Dark Shadows

284.52 -> was that quote it was located at a site

287.16 -> selected by Stalin's chief of secret

289.259 -> police Lavern Tiberia on the grounds

291.84 -> that it was uninhabited end quote indeed

295.56 -> their region was relatively isolated

297.36 -> from major Urban centers like

299.16 -> kazakhstan's then capital amata the

302.34 -> landscape is also characterized by the

304.259 -> harsh sparsely populated step which

306.66 -> covers much of Kazakhstan in Central

308.759 -> Asia so the thinking was that the

311.1 -> testing would cause little damage as we

313.919 -> will see however semi-palatinsk's

315.96 -> isolation was really just the party line

318.6 -> not only did many people live nearby but

322.08 -> there were other more Insidious elements

324.36 -> underpinning semi-palatinsk selection

327.18 -> Stalin's promotion of Russian national

329.16 -> culture to a position of Primacy in the

331.74 -> Soviet Union during the 1930s and 1940s

334.5 -> often saw the non-russian Republic's

337.02 -> well-being sacrificed at the altar of

339.539 -> the Soviets modernizing project

341.88 -> for example Stalin's collectivization

343.8 -> saw 1.5 million people in Kazakhstan

346.919 -> fully a quarter of its population

348.6 -> perished due to famine in what is known

350.82 -> as the goal shook in genocide or Asha

354.12 -> shearling in addition the great Terror

357.06 -> that took place under Stalin saw

358.8 -> millions of supposed enemies of the

360.66 -> state deported from other parts of the

362.88 -> Soviet Union to the harsh steps of

365.039 -> Central Asia

366.24 -> the region was seen as a Dumping Ground

368.22 -> for The Unwanted and the undesirable it

371.16 -> was thus not merely geography that

373.259 -> informed moscow's decision to hold

375.24 -> nuclear tests in Kazakhstan but equally

378 -> Stalin's complete lack of concern for

380.4 -> the consequences these nuclear tests

382.44 -> could inflict on the environment and

384.479 -> those who actually lived there

386.22 -> nevertheless with semi-politants chosen

388.8 -> all the necessary infrastructure was

390.72 -> hastily built in just two years

392.819 -> including the closed city of gorchatov

395.84 -> subsequently in August 1949 Beria and

399.18 -> gorchatov personally oversaw the first

401.639 -> successful detonation of an atomic bomb

404.22 -> at the semi-palatians polygon it had an

407.4 -> explosion equivalent to 21.1 kilotons by

411.539 -> comparison the bomb dropped on Hiroshima

413.699 -> had a yield of approximately 15 kilotons

417.12 -> the bomb was named rds-1 our DS was

420.3 -> actually an arbitrary designation but

422.759 -> one of the acronyms developed was rocia

425.52 -> Del yet Sama or Russia does it alone

428.58 -> this highlights how it was seen as an

431.22 -> exclusively Russian project and that

433.44 -> Kazakh sacrifices were completely

435.419 -> disregarded from the very beginning

438.24 -> all subsequent Soviet nuclear weapons

440.28 -> would be given this RDS number title

443.16 -> with this the USSR had become the

445.919 -> world's second nuclear-armed state after

448.139 -> the United States and the cold war was

450.96 -> truly in motion

454.38 -> since the first test conducted in

456.06 -> Kazakhstan in August 1949 at least 450

459.599 -> of the Soviet Union's 700 nuclear tests

462.66 -> were held in semi-palatinsk one of the

465.72 -> most important was the 1953

467.84 -> thermonuclear test of a hydrogen bomb

470.34 -> the first weaponization of such an

472.38 -> explosion now this test coincided with

475.319 -> Stalin's death and the rise of

477.12 -> Khrushchev Khrushchev as part of his

479.639 -> destalinization policies got rid of

482.099 -> Beria as head coordinator of the program

484.08 -> and instead placed vyacha slav malishev

487.319 -> in charge

488.699 -> it was in this context that the 1953

491.46 -> thermonuclear test was being developed

493.62 -> it was called slowika meaning layers

496.319 -> after its design which placed different

498.599 -> layers of fission and fusion on top of

501.3 -> each other to create an unprecedentedly

503.58 -> large explosion

505.319 -> since the bombings of Hiroshima and

507.24 -> Nagasaki however scientific knowledge

509.16 -> about the effects of exposure to

510.78 -> radiation from nuclear testing had

513.18 -> become much more advanced than it was in

515.219 -> the 1940s one man involved in the Soviet

518.219 -> project Victor gavrilov thought that

520.8 -> conducting an atmospheric test of this

522.719 -> kind above ground that is would be an

525.6 -> unmitigated disaster although

527.64 -> authorities listened to him delaying the

529.38 -> test would be both expensive and would

531.72 -> postpone the soviet's ability to display

533.399 -> their industrial prowess to the world

535.62 -> the Cold War was of course a battle of

538.2 -> ideas but it was also one of

540 -> achievements and showing off the

541.92 -> achievements of communist modernity to

544.019 -> counter-balance American capitalism was

546.48 -> seen as vital

548.64 -> the Soviet Authority's solution was

550.5 -> therefore to temporarily relocate 2 000

553.56 -> residents who lived within 120

555.959 -> kilometers of the semi-palatians test

558.36 -> site as well as further 12 000 people on

562.08 -> the outskirts of the zone

564.12 -> but governing love was right then 1953

567.06 -> thermonuclear explosion was significant

569.459 -> and the Authority's meager protections

572.1 -> were woefully inadequate

574.38 -> to compare it once again with the 15

576.6 -> kiloton little boy bomb dropped on

578.88 -> Hiroshima slika had a yield of around

581.519 -> 400 kilotons

583.56 -> the implications of this technology did

586.2 -> not go unnoticed by one Andres saharov

589.22 -> saharov is of course best known for his

591.779 -> later role as a dissident during the

594.06 -> Brezhnev and Gorbachev eras but it was

596.94 -> fundamentally his work as a nuclear

599.04 -> physicist at semipawa dinsk that made

601.86 -> him so skeptical of the Soviet system in

604.38 -> the first place it was after all he

606.779 -> alongside hariton who had designed the

609.42 -> slika bomb

611.82 -> sahadov became briefly and unexplicably

614.7 -> Ill after the 1953 test undoubtedly the

617.94 -> result of radiation exposure but he

620.399 -> nonetheless continued his work on Atomic

622.74 -> technology in semi-paladinsk in 1955 for

626.64 -> example he worked on yet another bomb

628.68 -> this one with a yield of 1.6 megatons

631.44 -> four times larger than sloika the

634.26 -> successful tests caused minor

635.94 -> destruction across the region even in

638.459 -> supposedly safe areas resulting in the

641.04 -> direct death of a three-year-old girl

642.98 -> this experience was particularly

645.42 -> disturbing for saharov and he became

648.18 -> increasingly critical of nuclear

650.1 -> technology

651.12 -> later in 1957 he published a paper on

654.18 -> the effects of exposure to radiation on

656.279 -> human DNA and its potential to cause

658.74 -> illnesses like cancer even when people

661.44 -> were exposed to high levels for just a

663.959 -> brief moment at the same time as high

666.06 -> profile scientists in the testing

667.8 -> program were voicing their concerns so

670.32 -> too were Regional Kazakh authorities

672.12 -> during the 1950s monitoring efforts

674.76 -> regarding radiation levels in public

676.56 -> health had been steadily increasing

678.839 -> we've already looked at the devastating

680.88 -> environmental and human impacts

682.74 -> associated with the 1957 kishtim

685.32 -> disaster and semi-politinsk was the site

688.14 -> of similar effects in 1958 for example

691.26 -> Bahia achbarov from The Institute of

694.14 -> regional pathology measured radiation

696.18 -> levels 650 times higher than normal in

700.14 -> some parts of Northern Kazakhstan at

702.899 -> Great personal risks at Great personal

705.06 -> risk achbarov and his team also reported

708.06 -> that locals were experiencing

709.62 -> debilitating health problems ranging

712.2 -> from neurological issues to circulation

714.42 -> issues

715.62 -> the concerns of figures like governilov

717.72 -> saharov and echbarov appeared to be

720.18 -> Vindicated in 1958 when a moratorium was

723.54 -> placed on atmospheric testing although

726.12 -> the moratorium was lifted in 1961 it did

729.18 -> eventually lead to the 1963 signature of

732.06 -> the treaty Banning nuclear weapons tests

734.22 -> in the atmosphere in outer space and

736.2 -> underwater more commonly referred to as

738.42 -> the Limited Test Ban Treaty treaty

740.64 -> between the U.S the UK and the USSR

742.8 -> which banned atmospheric nuclear tests

745.32 -> entirely

746.579 -> but this is far from the end of the

748.44 -> semi-politan's nuclear story indeed

751.32 -> neither the undeniable threat posed by

753.42 -> nuclear testing in semi-politinsk nor

756.06 -> International legislation actually

757.92 -> changed anything why well part of the

761.399 -> reason was that the Soviets simply did

763.62 -> not care about the consequences but this

766.92 -> is still too simplistic equally

768.779 -> important was the fact that within the

770.339 -> Soviet nuclear industry itself there was

772.98 -> no prevalence safety culture

775.5 -> in one incident in 1962 for instance

778.079 -> some workers in semi-politinsk received

780.779 -> huge radiation doses after conducting

783.24 -> tests despite not having the correct

785.459 -> safety equipment

786.839 -> similar incidents would prove extremely

788.76 -> deadly at Chernobyl in 1986 when

791.579 -> protests buy more inexperienced workers

793.92 -> at the power plant about the safety of

796.26 -> their actions were actively ignored by

798.779 -> their superiors

800.399 -> we of course know how this turned out

802.32 -> and if you don't well it was not great

805.019 -> but was indeed terrible as the old

807.6 -> Russian adage says

810.38 -> or the fish rots from the head

813.019 -> carelessness was built into the Soviet

815.519 -> system from its Inception

818.279 -> so from 1961 the semi-politan's polygon

821.04 -> continued to be used for underground

823.019 -> nuclear testing which was yet to be

825.54 -> banned predictably the disastrous

828.06 -> consequences continued and worsened

830.579 -> underground tests caused earthquake-like

833.1 -> Tremors damaging buildings in Northern

835.26 -> Kazakhstan they also contaminated the

838.019 -> water supply in the step where the

840.48 -> overwhelming majority of residents

842.279 -> relied on agriculture to survive farming

845.399 -> became at best harmful and at worst

848.279 -> outright impossible these negative

850.92 -> effects were exacerbated by so-called

853.5 -> peaceful nuclear tests in these cases

856.8 -> the Soviets turned craters from

858.899 -> underground nuclear tests into lakes and

861.18 -> rivers incorporating these contaminated

863.7 -> sites into the water system obviously

866.04 -> caused even greater issues Downstream

868.32 -> and actually spread contamination across

871.019 -> the region

872.88 -> though these peaceful nuclear tests were

875.04 -> later banned for tests above 150

877.38 -> kilotons in 1976 the damage to

879.959 -> semi-politan's environment and people

882.3 -> had already been done

884.82 -> okay so far it's clear that the history

886.74 -> of nuclear testing in semi-palatinsk

888.779 -> reveals how the Soviet state often

891 -> considered its citizens and the natural

892.98 -> environment secondary to its Ambitions

895.5 -> but kurchatov the closed City I

898.139 -> mentioned earlier that was built for the

900 -> polygons workers provides another

901.98 -> insight into the pervasive Legacy of the

904.32 -> Soviet nuclear weapons industry kurchato

906.899 -> was a place of extreme secrecy a closed

909.6 -> city as the Cold War Began close cities

912.24 -> like corjatov usually received the

914.399 -> status as a result of their importance

916.56 -> to sites of extreme military interest

919.32 -> even today closed cities are an odd

922.079 -> subject in the former Soviet Union we

924.42 -> still don't know how many of them there

925.74 -> were in total and some even remain

928.26 -> secret Russia for example acknowledges

931.019 -> the existence of 42 closed cities but

934.019 -> there are likely many more

936.3 -> closed City status however came with

938.279 -> several benefits for residents in

940.68 -> kurchato's case though living conditions

942.779 -> were Grim in its early days it quickly

945.6 -> came to possess some of the highest

947.459 -> living standards in the whole of the

949.079 -> Soviet Union this is because not only

951.72 -> were closed cities built with the

953.699 -> explicit purpose of housing some of the

955.8 -> ussr's best minds but residents also had

958.92 -> to live in almost complete isolation

961.079 -> from the rest of Soviet Society

963.38 -> residents were accordingly compensated

965.94 -> for their commitment to the ideological

967.62 -> cause

968.699 -> benefits usually included better

970.38 -> apartments and better access to rare

972.48 -> consumer goods take grocery stores for

975.12 -> example unlike in the rest of the Soviet

977.339 -> Union where they were usually poorly

979.019 -> stocked in closed cities like gurjatov

982.079 -> they were always fully stocked and even

984.36 -> sold items like bananas an extreme

986.88 -> Rarity at the time

988.98 -> the town of Milo Su in Kyrgyzstan

991.5 -> provides an interesting parallel with

993.42 -> kurchatos mylusu is located in central

996.3 -> Kyrgyzstan in the tianshan mountain

998.22 -> range it also became a closed City at

1000.86 -> the beginning of the Cold War in this

1002.6 -> case because of its proximity to uranium

1004.94 -> deposits supposedly the uranium used for

1008 -> the rds-1 test in 1949 was mined here

1011.24 -> and the city similarly housed top

1013.699 -> figures from the ussr's scientific

1015.98 -> community

1017.06 -> like semi-poweredinsk though the

1019.22 -> soviet's carelessness ravaged the local

1021.44 -> environment and caused long-term health

1023.839 -> issues for locals the town's local

1026.419 -> economy has also collapsed irreparably

1028.939 -> since 1991 a fate handed to many such

1032.6 -> Soviet monogram towns which were built

1035.24 -> to serve one industry alone

1037.579 -> but Milo Sue also shows how the adverse

1040.52 -> effects of Soviet nuclear testing and

1042.98 -> the Relentless race for Atomic Supremacy

1045.199 -> during the Cold War was not simply

1047.24 -> limited to semi-pala dinsk rather scenes

1050.24 -> in semi-politinsk and its surrounding

1052.1 -> often played out on a smaller scale

1054.08 -> across all 15 republics especially in

1057.2 -> Central Asia

1058.7 -> the environmental Devastation caused by

1060.799 -> the Soviet regime in places like

1062.559 -> semi-politinsk and milosu did not go

1065.419 -> unnoticed as we've already seen but what

1068.78 -> could actually be done the possibility

1070.94 -> of disseminating such knowledge was next

1073.4 -> to Impossible in the ussr's totalitarian

1076.28 -> information space

1078.02 -> this would change in 1986 however with

1080.9 -> Mikhail Gorbachev's glasnost reforms

1084.02 -> translating roughly to transparency they

1086.96 -> opened up Soviet media for the first

1089.12 -> time though the formation of alternate

1091.22 -> political movements that challenged the

1092.9 -> hegemony of the Communist Party were

1095.12 -> still largely banned Soviet citizens

1097.34 -> increasingly became aware of historical

1099.5 -> issues like the crimes of Stalin's

1101.78 -> terror and the suppression of national

1103.76 -> and ethnic minorities

1105.679 -> in particular 1986's Chernobyl disaster

1108.679 -> turned public attention and widespread

1111.5 -> anger towards the regime's destruction

1113.419 -> of the environment it also made people

1116.059 -> question what else the Soviet

1117.799 -> authorities might have been hiding

1120.26 -> it's here that we return to saharov his

1123.2 -> earlier work in samipolar dinsk as I

1125.66 -> mentioned had already made him deeply

1127.88 -> fearful of the consequences of nuclear

1130.46 -> weapons since 1957 he had stopped his

1134.12 -> work on the Soviet nuclear program and

1136.4 -> instead became a fully fledged dissident

1139.1 -> Sahara wrote several essays urging

1141.62 -> Soviet authorities to open up about

1143.96 -> their nuclear testing program in Sami

1146.12 -> balanthinsk and Beyond and in 1975 he

1149.84 -> received the Nobel Peace Prize for his

1152 -> criticism of the Soviet system

1154.22 -> though he was sentenced to internal

1156.26 -> exile for his arguments against the

1158.299 -> Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1980

1160.76 -> by 1986 he was freed and public figures

1164.299 -> like him would lead the charge against

1166.58 -> the Soviets covering up of information

1168.559 -> and human rights abuses

1172.1 -> glasmos also revealed to The Wider

1174.74 -> public that the regime had been sitting

1176.66 -> on a wealth of information about the

1178.88 -> perverse effects of various State

1180.62 -> Endeavors on the environment indeed it

1183.62 -> had been collected by Soviet scientists

1185.48 -> for decades from semi-palatians to

1188.6 -> kishtim Regional institutes run by

1191.12 -> figures like achbarov the scientist we

1193.34 -> mentioned earlier had continued

1195.08 -> monitoring people and the environment

1197 -> even though their findings had little

1199.1 -> impact on the regime's attitude towards

1201.679 -> them

1202.66 -> simultaneously scientists from research

1205.1 -> institutes at Soviet universities had

1207.799 -> all been working on issues relating to

1209.96 -> climate change and the environment

1213.94 -> thus merely lifted the lid on a strong

1216.86 -> tradition of environmental knowledge in

1219.32 -> the USSR

1220.94 -> in this context it was only a matter of

1223.22 -> time before the truth about

1224.6 -> semi-palatins would reach Soviet society

1227 -> and the outside world but rather than

1230.179 -> figures like saharov it was

1231.98 -> fundamentally the role of kazakhs

1234.02 -> themselves that proved the most

1235.58 -> consequential for semi-politis demise

1239.12 -> during glasnost nationalism was Rising

1241.7 -> across the USSR from vilious to Tbilisi

1245.299 -> the first glasnost era protests in

1247.64 -> Kazakhstan broke out in December 1986

1250.1 -> when the first Secretary of the Kazakh

1252.5 -> sssr the Muhammad kunyayev was dismissed

1256.039 -> and replaced with the ethnic Russian

1257.78 -> Gennady colbyn this challenged a

1260.78 -> long-held precedent in the USSR that the

1263.299 -> first secretaries of the republics were

1265.58 -> always ethnically a member of the

1267.26 -> community over which they were presiding

1269.6 -> given that Soviet citizens could now

1271.7 -> protest more openly this was interpreted

1274.16 -> as a direct attempt by Moscow to try to

1276.679 -> subjugate the Kazakh sssr entirely to

1279.919 -> its whim

1281.179 -> the protests were ultimately suppressed

1283.28 -> violently by the KGB but the seeds of

1286.22 -> national mobilization in Kazakhstan had

1288.559 -> now been sown

1290.539 -> meanwhile tests continued in semipolar

1293.24 -> dinsk then 1986 protests made it clear

1296.12 -> that explicit political agitation was

1298.88 -> still dangerous so environmental

1301.039 -> interests increasingly became an outlet

1303.26 -> for more nationalist sentiments as such

1306.86 -> the devastation of these semi-politan's

1308.9 -> region was increasingly interpreted as

1311.36 -> an attack on the nomadic culture of the

1313.7 -> kha'zix who lived there this reached a

1316.46 -> crescendo in February 1989 in response

1319.34 -> to a test at semi-palatinsk which sought

1321.679 -> the creation of one of the ussr's first

1324.08 -> Grassroots anti-nuclear movements known

1326.84 -> as Nevada semipalatinsk

1329.24 -> it was called as such to show solidarity

1331.82 -> with the anti-nuclear movement in the

1333.919 -> U.S working to close the Nevada Test

1336.26 -> Site

1337.34 -> with this kazakh's concerns about the

1339.32 -> atomic bomb and its effects became truly

1341.6 -> International bound together by a sense

1343.94 -> of national and civic responsibility the

1346.58 -> Nevada Semi Power Vince movement would

1348.559 -> mobilize thousands of ethnic kazakhs and

1351.44 -> citizens of all Soviet republics

1353.36 -> concerned about the effects of nuclear

1355.64 -> testing

1356.659 -> subsequently In December 1989 the

1359.36 -> polygon would see its last ever test and

1362.179 -> two years later on December 16 1991

1365.059 -> Kazakhstan would gain its independence

1367.52 -> from the Soviet Union

1370.22 -> glasmos therefore played a key role in

1372.919 -> revealing the Soviet secrets in

1374.78 -> semi-pawa dinsk leading to a rising

1377.179 -> sense of solidarity between ethnic

1379.4 -> kazakhs and the creation of the ussr's

1381.919 -> first anti-nuclear movement

1384.44 -> but what's the legacy of the polygon on

1386.84 -> semi-politans today

1388.58 -> well as we mentioned at the beginning of

1390.38 -> the video the city formerly known as

1392.559 -> semi-palatinsk is now called semei it's

1395.84 -> estimated that while the polygon was in

1398.12 -> use from 1949 to 1989 over 1.5 million

1402.5 -> individuals were directly exposed to

1405.02 -> nuclear fallout from the tests

1407.299 -> unfortunately the genetic Damage Done to

1409.88 -> many of these individuals has continued

1412.039 -> to be passed down through generations

1414.38 -> some studies for example suggest that

1416.6 -> children born in the same a region since

1418.88 -> 1991 are still 50 percent more likely to

1422.24 -> be born with mutations and birth defects

1425.179 -> economically like malusu in Kyrgyzstan

1428.059 -> life in the region remains tough given

1430.7 -> that much of its infrastructure was

1432.44 -> built specifically for the polygon what

1435.559 -> happened at semi-politinsk then

1437.059 -> continues to serve as a sobering

1439.46 -> reminder of the often destructive

1441.44 -> impacts of the Cold War and its

1443.72 -> consequences we hope you've enjoyed this

1445.58 -> episode and to make sure you don't miss

1447.2 -> our future work please make sure you

1449.059 -> subscribe to our Channel and have

1450.62 -> pressed the Bell button housed in a

1452.659 -> special reinforced lead line bunker in

1455.179 -> the middle of one of the most irradiated

1456.98 -> regions on Earth you'll be fine the

1459.5 -> polar bear told us so please consider

1461.84 -> supporting us on patreon at patreon.com

1464.24 -> the cold war or through YouTube

1466.58 -> membership we can be reached via email

1468.86 -> at thecoldwork Channel gmail.com this is

1472.28 -> the Cold War Channel and as we think

1474.14 -> about the Cold War please remember that

1475.94 -> history is Shades of Gray and rarely

1478.159 -> black and white

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvrNwknIOCg