Semipalatinsk in pictures

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Some residents of the small village of Koyan (a pseudonym) walk inside a nuclear crater. Photo copyright Magdalena Stawkowski.
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Men, women, and children collect wild strawberries on the Semipalatinsk test site.
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A faded radiation warning sign near a nuclear crater.
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A seasonal fire burning through the Semipalatinsk territory.
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Local residents putting out a grass fire at Semipalatinsk. They use sheep-skins attached to long poles to snuff out the flames.
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A lake inside a crater formed after an underground nuclear explosion.
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Cows, horses, goats, and sheep grazing on the Semipalatinsk pastures.
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The train tracks leading out of Kurchatov city, the Soviet-era nuclear weapons project administrative center.
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Livestock returning from the Semipalatinsk pastures to Koyan.

John Mecklin | October 9, 2016

A photo essay about life on and around the former Semipalatinsk Nuclear Test Site in Kazakhstan. All photos copyright Magdalena Stawkowski.

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