Last of Once Largest A-Test Site Destroyed

U.S. and Kazakh officials completed destruction of what was once the world’s largest atomic test ground. More than 500 nuclear explosions were carried out at the Semipalatinsk complex in northeastern Kazakhstan during the Cold War. But more than a decade after the Cold War ended, Kazakhs living around Semipalatinsk say they are still living with the consequences of the tests, citing illnesses and contamination of the land. “On 29 July we closed the last nuclear weapons test tunnel at Semipalatinsk, using 100 tons of chemical explosives,” a U.S. Pentagon official said.