Semipalatinsk Test Site: history, location and whether you can visit

The Semipalatinsk Test Site (also called the Polygon) was the Soviet Union’s main nuclear testing ground, a block of steppe of roughly 18,000–19,000 km² in north-east Kazakhstan. The first test here took place on 29 August 1949 and the last test took place on 19 October 1989. Kazakhstan closed the site on 29 August 1991, a date the UN now marks as the International Day against Nuclear Tests.

If you are thinking of going, the key fact is this: we found no published procedure for tourist visits, so contact the National Nuclear Center in Kurchatov before you plan anything.

Key facts

Where it is and its main sites

The site lies south-west of the Irtysh River, which forms its boundary along a short stretch. The nearest base for visitors is Semey, the city that gave the site its name (it was called Semipalatinsk until 2007). Kurchatov, the town built to serve the site, sits on its north-eastern edge.

In the 1990s the IAEA counted 30,000–40,000 people living in villages around the site, among them Akzhar, Dolon, Moldary, Sarzhal and Kainar. The flooded crater of the 1965 Chagan explosion has its own page: Chagan Atomic Lake.

Timeline

In a 2015 article for the CTBTO, Kazakhstan’s foreign minister described the country as the first in the world to close a nuclear test site on its own territory. In 2008 the CTBTO held its first full-scale on-site inspection exercise here.

Radiation: what the official sources say

The picture is uneven, and the most-cited assessment is now old. The IAEA’s 1998 report found little or no residual radioactivity over most of the site, with heavy contamination at the Experimental Field and around the Atomic Lake at Balapan.

Since then, the National Nuclear Center reports that the Experimental Field was surveyed on foot over more than 20,000 km of gamma traverses in 2013–2020, contaminated soil was removed and reinforced-concrete structures were built over some objects to prevent unauthorised access. From 1 January 2024 the contaminated part is a legal nuclear safety zone: only activities listed in the law (safety, rehabilitation, research and similar) are allowed, everything else is banned, and the boundary is marked with warning signs.

We found no visitor guidance from the National Nuclear Center or the energy ministry. What the official documents imply is simple: keep out of signed zone areas and go to the Experimental Field or the Atomic Lake only with whoever controls access there. This page gives no medical advice; ask a doctor about health questions.

Can you visit?

There is no clear official answer. The 2023 law mentions “visiting rules” as part of the zone’s official passport, but the rules are not in the law and we could not find them published.

If anyone offers you a trip onto the site, ask in writing who authorises the visit and whether a radiation specialist comes along. Check with the National Nuclear Center (contacts on nnc.kz) whether it is currently receiving visitors and what foreigners need.

Getting there

Semey is the practical base: it has an international airport, and the city has the Abai Museum and the Stronger than Death memorial to test victims. See our Semey city guide and day trips from Semey. We could not confirm a road distance or regular public transport from Semey to Kurchatov on official portals.

If you are starting in Astana, the history hall of the National Museum covers the test site.