This Is What Nuclear Weapons Leave in Their Wake

Soldiers walk on a windswept road on the edge of Semey.

Inside a former KGB building in Kurchatov, Kazakhstan.

Alijan Imanbaev at home in Semey, Kazakhstan. Alijan suffers from epilepsy and learning difficulties.

Ayman Norgazinova, 49, a lab worker, inspects a rat used for research testing in the State Medical University of Semey in eastern Kazakhstan. Staff here are researching the effects of radiation on the rats' organs. The animals were exposed to radiation through small manganese particles they breathed in to simulate radioactive dust.

A family passes derelict housing blocks in the town of Kurchatov, Kazakhstan. The population of the town is half of what it was at the end of the nuclear testing.

Archive photographs of atomic mushroom clouds are pictured on a wall in the Museum of the Semipalatinsk Test Site in Kurchatov, Kazakhstan.

Zulfiya Tunkushgojine, 35, at her home she shares with her mother and siblings in the village of Shakaman in eastern Kazakhstan. Zulfiya was born with cerebral palsy which doctors say was due to the nuclear testing conducted at the Semipalatinsk test site. Her mother used to live in Saryzal, close to the nuclear tests, until 1962.

Kazbek Kasimov, 60, herds sheep and goats at the Semipalatinsk Test Site, south of Kurchatov in Kazakhstan. The area was used for 456 nuclear tests between 1949 and 1989 and some areas are still heavily contaminated with radiation.

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.

Mass is performed at the Voskresenskij Cathedral 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.

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

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

Passengers prepare to board the train in Semey.

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

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

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.