View source for Anti-nuclear movement in Kazakhstan

[[File:Wfm sts overview.png|thumb|450px|The 18,000 km<sup>2</sup> expanse of the [[Semipalatinsk Test Site]] (indicated in red), attached to [[Kurchatov, Kazakhstan|Kurchatov]] (along the [[Irtysh river]]). The site comprised an area [[the size of Wales]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thebulletin.org/web-edition/features/the-lasting-toll-of-semipalatinsks-nuclear-testing |title=The lasting toll of Semipalatinsk's nuclear testing |author=Togzhan Kassenova |date=28 September 2009 |work=Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists }}</ref>]]
{{Anti-nuclear movement sidebar}}
The '''anti-nuclear movement in Kazakhstan''', "Nevada Semipalatinsk", was formed in 1989 and was one of the first major [[anti-nuclear movement]]s in the former [[Soviet Union]].  It was led by author [[Olzhas Suleimenov]] and attracted thousands of people to its protests and campaigns which eventually led to the closure of the [[nuclear test site]] at [[Semipalatinsk]] in north-east Kazakhstan in 1991.<ref name=bbc1999/><ref name=chance/><ref name=krech/> The movement was named "Nevada Semipalatinsk" in order to show solidarity with [[Nevada Desert Experience|similar movements]] in the United States aiming to close the [[Nevada Test Site]].<ref>King, Hannah. [http://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/kazakhs-stop-nuclear-testing-nevada-semipalatinsk-antinuclear-campaign-1989-1991 Kazakhs Stop Nuclear Testing (Nevada-Semipalatinsk Antinuclear Campaign), 1989-1991.] [http://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/ Global Nonviolent Action Database], [[Swarthmore College]], 29 Nov. 2010. Accessed 14 July 2013.</ref>

The Soviet Union conducted 456 [[nuclear weapons tests]] at the Semipalatinsk Test Site, between 1949 and 1989.<ref name=krech/><ref>{{cite web | title = Semipalatinsk: 60 years later (collection of articles) | publisher = [http://thebulletin.org ''Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists''] | date = September 2009 | url = http://thebulletin.org/web-edition/special-topics/semipalatinsk-60-years-later | accessdate = 2009-10-01 }}</ref> The [[United Nations]] believes that one million people around Semipalatinsk were exposed to radiation, and the incidence of birth defects and cancer is much higher than for the rest of the country.<ref name=bbc1999>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/288008.stm World: Asia-Pacific: Kazakh anti-nuclear movement celebrates tenth anniversary] ''BBC News'', February 28, 1999.</ref><ref name=chance>Matthew Chance. [http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/08/30/btsc.chance.nukes/index.html  Inside the nuclear underworld: Deformity and fear] ''CNN.com'', August 31, 2007.</ref><ref name=krech>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nUMKF4IKQkAC&dq=clamshell+alliance+encyclopedia&q=anti-nuclear#v=snippet&q=nuclear&f=false |title=Encyclopedia of World Environmental History: A-E  |author=Krech, Shepard |year=2004 |publisher=Routledge |pages=70–71}}</ref>

According to [[UNESCO]], Nevada-Semipalatinsk played a positive role in promoting public understanding of "the necessity to fight against nuclear threats".<ref name=un>[http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=16406&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html Kazakhstan - Audiovisual documents of the International antinuclear movement “Nevada-Semipalatinsk”]</ref> The movement gained global support and, became "a real historical factor in finding solutions to global ecological problems".<ref name=un/>

Astana hosted an international conference Building a Nuclear-Weapons-Free World in August 2016. The topics of the conference included nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament and the physical protection of nuclear weapons. The main outcome of the conference was the adoption of The Astana Vision Declaration “From а Radioactive Haze to a Nuclear-Weapon-Free World.”<ref>{{cite web|title=Anti-Nuclear Weapons Leaders Adopt “Astana Vision Declaration” at Int’l Conference in Astana|url=http://astanatimes.com/2016/08/anti-nuclear-weapons-leaders-adopt-astana-vision-declaration-at-intl-conference-in-astana/|website=astanatimes.com}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Social movements|Renewable energy|Environment}}
*[[Semipalatinsk Test Site]]
*[[Downwinders]]
*[[Kazatomprom]]
*[[Energy policy of Kazakhstan]]
*[[List of anti-nuclear power groups]]
*[[List of books about nuclear issues]]
*[[List of Chernobyl-related articles]]
*[[List of nuclear whistleblowers]]
*[[List of Nuclear-Free Future Award recipients]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
*[http://cns.miis.edu/npr/pdfs/laumul12.pdf Nuclear politics and the future security of Kazakhstan]
{{Anti-nuclear movement |state=expanded}}

[[Category:Anti-nuclear movement by country|Kazakhstan]]
[[Category:Political movements in Kazakhstan]]
[[Category:1989 establishments in the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Nuclear technology in Kazakhstan]]
[[Category:1989 in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic]]
[[Category:Protests in Kazakhstan]]
[[Category:Anti-nuclear movement in the Soviet Union]]