SARYZHAL, Kazakhstan ¨C As Russia warns of the rising risk of nuclear war, and relations with the United States sink into a deep freeze, communities close to a vast Soviet-era nuclear testing site in northern Kazakhstan have a message for leaders: ¡°Let us be a lesson.¡±
Hundreds of tests were carried out between 1949 and 1989 on the barren steppe near the city of Semey, formerly known as Semipalatinsk, close to the Kazakh-Russian border. The effect of radiation had a devastating impact on the environment and local people¡¯s health, and continues to affect lives there today.
Many nuclear proliferation experts believe resuming testing by either nuclear superpower more than 30 years after the last test is unlikely soon.
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