35 years ago, on August 29, 1991, after decades of sustained protest, growing international solidarity, and grassroots advocacy led by the Nevada–Semipalatinsk movement, the Soviet Union's Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site was closed for good.

On August 29, 1991, after decades of sustained protest, growing international solidarity, and grassroots advocacy led by the Nevada–Semipalatinsk movement, the Soviet Union's Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site was closed for good. 

This year marks 35 years since that closure. August 29 has been adopted as  the United Nations' International Day Against Nuclear Tests in recognition of this remarkable anniversary

Between 1949 and 1989, more than 400 nuclear weapons were detonated at the Semipalatinsk site in what is now East Qazaqstan (Kazakhstan), exposing over 1.5 million people to radioactive fallout. Land was contaminated. Bodies were harmed. The generations since have inherited the consequences, including elevated rates of cancer, cardiovascular and thyroid disease, reproductive health complications, and psychological distress that persist today, with women and children disproportionately affected. 

The closure of the test site was a victory won by ordinary citizens, scientists, and activists who refused to stay silent. 

As our Program Coordinator, Dimity Hawkins, shared in a solidarity message to this week's International Civil Society Forum for Peace in Semey: 

"I was just a young woman at that time, but I still remember the reverberations across the world at this great news. Here in our region, nuclear testing continued for a further 5 years — so the example set by the People of Qazaqstan meant a lot to me as a young activist." 

Qazaqstan’s choice to renounce nuclear weapons and shut down testing forever remains, in Dimity’s words: 

"A great example of moral leadership for the world."

Thirty-five years on, that leadership continues, and so does the unfinished work of nuclear justice for the communities who lived through the testing years. 

A new policy paper from our partners at the Qazaq Nuclear Frontline Coalition (QNFC), From Harm to Justice: A Needs-Based Assessment of Nuclear-Affected Communities in Kazakhstan and Policy Pathways for Implementing Articles 6 and 7 of the TPNW, gives that work voice.

Drawing on a survey of 516 nuclear-affected community members alongside focus group workshops in Semey and Pavlodar, QNFC's research found that 69.5 per cent of respondents are living with health conditions they associate with nuclear testing, and that nearly 60 per cent of them receive no medical assistance at all. Almost 90 per cent describe current government social support as insufficient. 

Qazaqstan’s 1992 Law on Social Protection of Citizens Affected by Nuclear Testing was, in its time, one of the earliest national frameworks of its kind anywhere in the world. But as QNFC's report documents, its fixed geographic zones and narrow eligibility criteria have not kept pace with what nuclear-affected communities actually need, or with the intergenerational and ongoing nature of the harm.

Articles 6 and 7 of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) recognise obligations on victim assistance and environmental remediation, owed to people affected by the use or testing of nuclear weapons. 

QNFC's paper argues, and we agree, that implementation cannot wait on the proposed International Trust Fund alone. It requires national law reform in Kazakhstan, sustained international cooperation, and — above all — the meaningful participation of nuclear-affected communities themselves in decisions made about their own lives. 

As Diana Murzagaliyeva, a nuclear-affected community member interviewed for the report, put it: 

"Dialogue should not be only about security, but also about justice... I want the next generation to not inherit this pain." 

With the TPNW's First Review Conference set for November 2026, the Semey anniversary lands at a genuinely consequential moment for turning that principle into practice.

This is the work the Nuclear Truth Project exists to support: documenting the truth of nuclear harm, building the agency of the people who have lived it, and strengthening the solidarity that connects nuclear-affected communities across the Pacific, Central Asia, the Americas, and beyond. 

Thirty-five years ago, the people of Qazaqstan showed the world that organised communities can end nuclear testing. Today, they are showing us what genuine, survivor-centred justice requires next.

We stand in solidarity with everyone gathered this week at the International Civil Society Forum for Peace in Semey, and with nuclear-affected communities everywhere still carrying this fight forward.

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Read QNFC's full policy paper, "From Harm to Justice"

Read the full transcript of Dimity's Solidarity Message

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