The Soviet Unions nuclear program started soon after the end of the Second World War.
Unfortunately, not all of these sites were devoid of human habitation.
Hundreds of thousands more lived within an 80 km radius in numerous scattered villages.
From 1949 until 1989 the Soviet Union conducted 456 nuclear tests at Semipalatinsk.
They were advised to stay outside during the blast, since it could topple their houses.
Cases of cancer, impotency, leukemia and birth defects skyrocketed within a few years.
Babies were born with severe neurological and major bone deformations, some without limbs.
(Here are somechilling photos of deformitiesamong Semeys current residents).
The Soviet Union’s first nuclear test at Semipalatinsk on 29 August 1949.
Photo credit:CTBTO
The Soviet government kept the tests secret.
The buildings, bunkers, tunnels and other infrastructure are still there at the Semipalatinsk test site.
Some of the towers have cracked.
Others have blisters, possibly developed when the heat of the blast melted the concrete.
