Sultan Umarovich, tell us about the first nuclear explosion at the Semipalatinsk test site, how did the people react?
I will start from nowadays to start from the present and return to the past. In the decree of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan N.A. Nazarbayev dated August 29, 1991, it was said that the people of Kazakhstan fulfilled their mission, thanks to us, at a high price, the world refrained from unleashing the Third World War. Such a historical and tragic mission was fulfilled by our people. Thanks to the creation of the Semipalatinsk test site, the experience of Hiroshima and Nagasaki did not repeat itself on Kazakh and Soviet soil.
Hiroshima after the nuclear explosion
It all started in 1947, when Stalin made a decision to counterbalance the military-industrial complex of nuclear weapons in the United States of America.
In 1947, the construction of the Semipalatinsk test site began, and by 1949, in the shortest possible time, in two years, the so-called nuclear missile shield of the Soviet Union was created. The first nuclear test was carried out on August 29 at 7 am at a height of 30 meters, a warhead equal to the bomb dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was detonated.
How did the people react? Naturally there was euphoria. As our parents, our older brothers and sisters, say, although the topic was closed, information still leaked out that nuclear weapons were created in the Soviet Union. There was pride in the country, since the Great Patriotic War had just ended, and the Third World War might have been expected the day before.
The landfill in the future became known as the city of Kurchatov. Before the collapse of the Soviet Union, about 50 thousand people already lived there, it was a huge city with a developed infrastructure.
City House of Science in Kurchatov
The feeling of the Soviet and Kazakh people was such that they had fulfilled a heroic mission. If in the Second World War we defended the world from enslavement by Nazi Germany, then in this case our people believed that they had kept the world from the Third World War, perhaps the last world war, where there are no winners. Our people managed to stop this nuclear madness, though at a very high price.
How did Moscow react to the request to close the nuclear test site?
It is no secret that the test site has been operating for 40 years, there have been 456 nuclear explosions. These charges could carry away all the humanity of the world.
All these tests affected the landscape, water, environment. The local population openly did not know about the tests, they did not write about it anywhere, only sometimes the Information Bureau was informed that an explosion had been carried out. But the conversations went on, as we physically felt how the dishes in the cabinets and on the tables began to shake, the chandeliers danced, the houses moved. And since we have no mountains, no volcanoes, we guessed and understood that another nuclear explosion had occurred. People are tired...
A protest mood and an understanding were ripening among the people that it was time to do something. We are the people brought up with a high sense of patriotism, understood what duty and honor are and that all this is necessary for the motherland and fatherland, but the question arose: “how long will this continue?”. One, two, three explosions can be tolerated, but the count is already going to hundreds ... And someone had to say “tokhta” (“Stop” in Kazakh) at X-hour, as the Kazakhs say. There were such people: then the future Chairman of the Council of Ministers N.A. Nazarbayev supported Olzhas Suleimenov, who in 1989 changed his speech and replaced the electoral program of the candidate for deputies with a speech on behalf of the people of Kazakhstan, that "it's enough to test us for nuclear strength."
Olzhas Suleimenov
Olzhas Suleimenov called on all those who are not indifferent and those who support his protest against the tests to come on February 28 to the building of the Writers' Union. And on February 28, several thousand people gathered in the center of Almaty, where Suleimenov spoke about his desire to create the International Anti-Nuclear Movement "Nevada-Semipalatinsk" and offered to hold protests not only in Kazakhstan, but throughout the world. In the very first days, the movement gathered more than 2 million people under its banner. And a cycle of processions in support of Nevada Semey went through Europe.
In April 1989, the movement was registered by Justice as the first non-governmental organization in Kazakhstan.
The movement was supported by Nursultan Nazarbayev from the first day, we are grateful to him for this. Repeatedly speaking, the president says: "I closed the nuclear test site, despite the pressure of the military-industrial complex and the leadership of the Soviet Union, thanks to the support of the people of Kazakhstan."
Moscow's reaction to these actions was naturally unequivocal. Well, who could allow the will of the people to be expressed in the form of closing the nuclear test site, which was crucial for the Soviet Union at that time. Symbol of fear of the United States of America. Naturally, the leadership of the USSR did not want to go for this, but nevertheless, Gorbachev had the wisdom to agree with the opinion of the people, there were no repressions and no movements. It was just waiting..
Then the leadership of the USSR saw that this is not only the will of Suleimenov and Nazarbayev, this is a mass movement and this is the will of millions, and then it was said that since the people are going for it, the people must be supported. There was a moratorium on nuclear testing.
We have shown the whole world how to deal with nuclear weapons. We have done what the great countries could not do: the United States of America, the Russian Federation, England, France, China. What our small Central Asian country has done in terms of population of 17 million can rightly be attributed to great deeds.
Now the whole world is studying the non-nuclear Kazakhstani path, they admire and thank our President and the people of Kazakhstan.
At the initiative of President N.A. Nazarbayev, August 29 was recognized as the international day of action against nuclear tests.
Is it now proposed to include the Semipalatinsk test site in the UNESCO book and make it a tourist zone?
Indeed, the Semipalatinsk test site is proposed to be included in the UNESCO book, we consider this to be completely fair, the Nevada-Semey organization is already in the book, and we would like the Semipalatinsk test site to be included as well, and we hope that this event will take place in the near future . I'm sure it's a matter of time.
The Semipalatinsk test site is not just a nuclear test site, it is a large military-industrial complex, a huge, advanced science of the Soviet Union, and it was simply impossible to close it, and then the president adopted a program: to use the achievements of science for peaceful purposes. The National Nuclear Center was established there, where the largest physicists work, where scientists from many countries of the world annually gather. Everything that has been developed for military purposes is used for peaceful purposes.
There is also a second program - tourism. Many people are interested. The flow of people who want to see the landfill is increasing every year - these are public figures, journalists, politicians, famous people of the West and East. No one has any special fear, they calmly go, look at the dead nuclear lake. The experimental fields where the first explosions took place, the Museum of Nuclear History in Kurchatov, i.e. people are reaching out, people want to see them...