site.btaKazakhstan's Ambassador to Bulgaria Opens Exhibition on Semipalatinsk Closed Nuclear Test Site

A documentary exhibition dedicated to the closed nuclear test site in Semipalatinsk (Northeast Kazakhstan) was opened at the Sofia Library by Kazakhstan's Ambassador to Bulgaria Viktor Temirbayev on Monday.

It includes 20 thematic panels that trace the history of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site from the date of its opening, the consequences of nuclear testing for the health of the population, the protests of the people against nuclear testing and the measures taken by the Kazakh government.

August 29 will mark the 32nd anniversary of the nuclear test site's closure, Temirbayerv noted. In 2009, the United Nations declared the date an International Day аgainst Nuclear Tests, he underlined.

Nearly 500 explosions were carried out at the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site from 1949 to 1991, both in the atmosphere and in the ground, the Ambassador said. He added that more than one million people in Kazakhstan have suffered from these nuclear tests, resulting in both cancers and various genetic disabilities. Scientists believe that it will take more than a million years for the territory of the test site to recover, he noted.

Every year, Kazakhstan's embassies around the world organize similar exhibitions, Temirbayev said.

“We firmly believe that a nuclear-free world promotes the harmonious development of all mankind,” he stressed. For the record, Kazakhstan is the first country in the world to give up its fourth largest nuclear arsenal, he added.

The exhibition will remain at the Sofia Library until September 8 and can be viewed on weekdays from 9:00 am to 7:00 pm.