Visiting The Soviet Union's Nuclear Testing Grounds

It was 60 years ago, on August 29, 1949, that the Soviet Union first tested its nuclear arsenal. In the first of many tests, an atomic bomb was detonated at the Semipalatinsk test site, which would become a main hub of the arms race over the next 40 years.

On the anniversary of the first test, Yermek Boltayev and Regina Kozhikova of RFE/RL’s Kazakh Service visited the former nuclear site in East Kazakhstan.