Nuclear fallout from the Soviet era and the radiation continuing to endanger lives

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While many of our audiences will be familiar with the nuclear tragedy of Chornobyl (Guardian style is to use the Ukrainian spelling), far fewer people have heard of Semipalatinsk – the Soviet Union’s primary nuclear weapons testing site in Kazakhstan. In our latest documentary, Atomic Secrets, Kazakh film-maker Zhanana Kurmasheva gains rare access to the site and follows Ukrainian scientist Dmitry Kalmykov as he reveals the full extent of the testing that happened there and the radiation that continues to endanger nearby communities who are left uninformed and fully exposed.

Against the backdrop of war in Ukraine and the long shadow of a nuclear conflict across the region, Dmitry debates how Kazakhstan can safeguard its independence and what its nuclear future should be. “Hope for the best but prepare for the worst,” he concludes.

I spoke to both Zhanana and Dmitry about their backgrounds growing up in the Soviet Union, the broader context of this film and the response from international audiences. Please watch, share and comment on the film – we welcome your feedback!

Jess Gormley

Executive producer, Guardian Documentaries

JG: Dmitry, can you summarise your lifelong connection to the nuclear threat?
Dmitry Kalmykov: My childhood was gripped by a real fear of atomic war. Nearly every Soviet classroom displayed posters of nuclear explosions on the horizon, with children huddled under desks “for protection”. Soviet propaganda and “civil defence” drills at school convinced me this was real. That dread of apocalypse hung over me, amplified by Soviet TV’s warnings of the west’s sinister plans to shatter my untroubled childhood.

In midlife, the nuclear terror receded. Magic words emerged: disarmament, détente, Gorbachev’s era, treaties signed, missiles destroyed. Fear dissolved. Through the 1990s and early 2000s, I wore rose-tinted glasses, believing that nuclear apocalypse had retreated – that humanity’s fiery end, prophesied by futurologists, was postponed.

Today, as this film shows, there are simple, ordinary folk herding livestock, churning butter, living as their ancestors did, yet surrounded by nuclear craters. And somehow, no one seems to care. The world is busy again sharpening its nuclear knives. The spectre of nuclear weapons has returned to my life. As a child, I feared weapons and their phantoms. Now, I fear people.

JG: Why did you want to make this film, and how did you meet Dmitry Kalmykov?
Zhanana Kurmasheva: One day, while shooting a documentary reportage, I visited the former Semipalatinsk nuclear test site – and I was honestly stunned. The area could be crossed freely, no fences, no warning signs. I met locals who were really open about their health issues, and it made me realise that the consequences of what happened there weren’t as distant as I thought. I came back home, started digging into the history, and came across Dmitry Kalmykov. Hearing his interview felt like validation – my gut feeling was right.

JG: How was Semipalatinsk perceived during the Soviet Union, and has that perception changed today?
ZK: It used to be celebrated – a beacon of Soviet industrial ambition. There were factories humming with activity, trains rushing through the Turkestan–Siberian railway. It felt like the future, at least on the surface. But then came 1947, and with it, a chilling shift: this place of progress was turned into a nuclear testing ground. Entire villages were swallowed by a logic that prioritised bombs over bodies. Families, children, livestock — none of it mattered. The authorities decided this land could bear the burden of destruction, and our people had no choice in the matter.

I think what breaks my heart most is how the warnings – the medical reports, the voices of Kazakh scientists – were not just ignored, people were forced into silence. But trauma doesn’t disappear just because someone refuses to name it.

JG: What was your most memorable shoot day?
ZK: There’s one day I’ll never forget. We came across this old bunker with steel reinforcement rods poking out – people had been yanking them out to sell for scrap. That image really stuck with me. The desperation it represented. And then, in the distance, through a shimmer of heat, I saw dump trucks hauling coal. The whole scene felt unreal – giant machines rumbling across this silent, contaminated land, like they were feeding some invisible beast that thrives on taking more and more from us.

JG: Do you think Central Asia is at a critical crossroad geopolitically?
ZK: Central Asia today finds itself in a very delicate, yet significant moment. Geographically, we sit between two giants – Russia and China – and that has always meant navigating a complex set of expectations and pressures. But lately, especially since the war in Ukraine, the urgency of that balancing act has become much more real, much more personal.

JG: You have been immersed in this subject matter with your related feature-length documentary - We Live Here, which premiered at CPH:Dox in Copenhagen last month. What was the response from international audiences?
ZH: For many, Kazakhstan is an unknown place. The nuclear legacy is even more unfamiliar. But what surprised me was how deeply it resonated. People stayed after the screening to talk. Some were moved, some were shocked, and many just wanted to understand. After those conversations, I felt something shift in me – a stronger sense of responsibility. I realised how important it is to share this film with the world, to tell our story in our own voice. That sense of purpose – of speaking for ourselves, not through someone else’s lens – is what continues to drive me.

Ornella Mutoni, the filmmaker behind Guardian Documentary, The Things We Don’t Say has been nominated for The Gaby Rado Award for New Journalist at the Amnesty Media Awards. Huge congratulations to Ornella!

Applications are now open for the Made of Truth: BFI Doc Society Short Film Fund, part of BFI NETWORK and made possible through National Lottery funds. The fund can support up to 15 projects each year with a maximum of £25,000 in funding. The application deadline is 1st May. You can find out all details here.

We’re delighted to see so many responses to Atomic Secrets online, particularly from audiences in Kazakhstan.

‘I’m from Kazakhstan and I realized that Semei-21 is one of the most nuked places on earth only when I became an adult. Unfortunately even in our country there’s not enough meaningful education and discussion on this topic.’ (@pbusedtogiveaf)

‘This video was one of the best I’ve ever seen regarding the topic. Very well done!’ (@vornemenachname1572)

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