The Tragic Story of the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site

[Feuer Frei!]

*WARNING* Graphic images in this article, linked, which may disturb some viewers.

The Semipalatinsk Test Site ("The Polygon") was the primary nuclear testing site for the Soviet Union. It's about 150 kilometres west of the town Semey (named Semipalatinsk until 2007). The place was selected in 1947 by Lavrentiy Beria, head of the Soviet atomic bomb project, who claimed the huge steppe region was totally uninhabited. It wasn't, but nobody cared. Workers from Gulag camps were brought in to build a big complex of buildings and laboratories. Here's what happened.

http://io9.com/5988266/the-tragic-st...lear-test-site