Issue 1 - The Cost of Progress: Accountability and Aftermath of Nuclear Testing in Semipalatinsk

Abstract

The Semipalatinsk Test Site (STS), the Soviet Union’s main nuclear testing site, remains a reminder of the human and environmental costs of Cold War militarization. This article combines scientific, historical, and political perspectives to examine the creation, exploitation, and long-term consequences of STS from an interdisciplinary perspective. The STS serves as an example of how scientific ambitions and the struggle for geopolitical control have neglected the rights and health of local people, creating a legacy of long-term pollution, disease, and socio-environmental injustice. The site still poses danger for public health and land use, which reflects larger conflicts between environmental justice and post-Soviet development.