Photographer Page

Phil Hatcher-Moore

Dusk falls in Saryzhal, a village on the edge of the former Semipalatinsk Test Site. During the Cold War, scientists would come to the village and measure radiation levels. Residents remember seeing many animals losing their fur following the tests.

Kairat Yesimhanov, 35, sits at home in Sulbinsk, in eastern Kazakhstan. Kairat and his younger sister, Aygul, suffer from cerebral palsy.

A staff member of the municipal government in Kurchatov shows a video about the nuclear testing conducted from the town during the Cold War.

Passengers prepare to board the train in Semey.

A patient is prepared for gamma ray treatment for skin cancer in the Oncology Centre in Semey, eastern Kazakhstan.

Balkiya Usabayeva, 64, receives treatment via a drip at the Institute for Radiation and Ecology in Semey, Kazakhstan. Balkiya has suffered from heart disease and high blood pressure for over 10 years, and has always lived in Semey. Doctors say even though she was not directly exposed to the testing at the Semipalatinsk test site, she received a chronic dose of radiation living in Semey during that period.

A woman walks through Soviet-era housing blocks in Semey.

A rack for holding uranium fuel containers is pictured in the low-enriched uranium bank, currently under construction at the Ulba Metallurgical Plant in Ust'-Kamenogorsk in eastern Kazakhstan.

Mass is performed at the Voskresenskij Cathedral in Semey.

Nurse Marjan Kasenova plays with Kanat Rahimov, 15, in a ward of the Children's Centre of Special Social Services in Ayagoz, eastern Kazakahstan. Kanat was born with cerebral palsy.