Projects
- Monitoring river quality in the Southern Caucasus - a joint NATO-OSCE Science for Peace project
- Safe management of radioactive sites in Turkmenistan
- Evaluating radiation levels at Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan
- Obsolete pesticides in Moldova - NATO’s role in removing this serious threat
- Uranium extraction and environmental security in the central Asian republics
- Mélange: helping Azerbaijan deal with this serious environmental threat
- Helping preserve the Gulf of Aqaba in the face of global climate change
- Sahara Trade Winds to Hydrogen : Applied Research for Sustainable Energy Systems
- Harmonization of Seismic Hazard Maps for the Western Balkan countries
News
- 22 Mar. 2007 - NATO
Kazakh and UK scientists awarded prestigious NATO Science Prize
Multimedia
- Kazakh and UK scientists awarded NATO Science Prize
- Video (WMV
37.905Kb)
- audio (MP3 6820Kb)
- High resolution photos
- Video (WMV
37.905Kb)
Chapters :
Background
Kazakhstan is a vast country stretching over an area greater than the size of Western Europe. It is also home to the largest ex-Soviet nuclear testing facility which covers an area of approximately 18 500 km2. From 1949 until 1989, 456 nuclear test explosions were carried out, the majority of which were completed underground. Two NATO Science for Peace projects have been initiated to determine the levels of radioactive contamination at the test site in two different inhabited areas.
More...Objectives
- Determine the radiological conditions across the chosen site to identify areas which could be used for agriculture or mineral exploitation; those which require remediation; and those from which the Kazakh population should be prohibited.
- Determine extent and radiological significance of local fallout from surrounding areas – in particular from explosions at the Ground Zero site.
- Determine levels of radionuclides in local well and surface waters.
What is being done
In 2002 the first NATO Science for Peace project sponsored a project to examine levels of contamination of an area of about 600 km2 of the test site close to the village of Sarzhal. This project was initiated with the IAEA and formed part of the research programme coordinated by the UNDP Semipalatinsk Relief and Rehabilitation programme. The results which were obtained in 2002 showed that contrary to expectation, the site was not highly contaminated, and concluded that there was no significant radiological hazard to the farmers and the Sarzhal residents that use it for agriculture. These results were passed to the government of Kazakhstan.
The highest priority now remains to investigate the remaining areas of the STS, particularly those sites which could be exploited for agriculture or mining of minerals such as gold. A second NATO Science for Peace project is therefore underway, and largely completed, to measure radioactivity on an area of approximately 800 km2 in the northern part of the test site that is farmed by Kazakh families and workers from local villages. The area was also used to test radiological weapons.
A key aim of this second three-year project was to increase the speed of the radioactive evaluation of the STS. This was to be achieved using experience gained in the first project and in particular greater reliance on in situ evaluation as opposed to laboratory evaluations. The site has proved to be less contaminated than expected – except in areas used to test radiological weapons – making this task difficult. However, the project is providing valuable information concerning the risk presented to both the international community and to local farm families by the residues produced by the testing of radiological weapons.
This NATO project is conducted in coordination with other international studies and forms an integral part of the investigation of the site planned by the National Nuclear Center of Kazakhstan in association with the IAEA. Equipment supplied by other donors such as the IAEA, UK Department of Trade and Industry and the US Department of Energy is also employed as well as the equipment supplied by NATO for the first project.
Training of young scientists
This project has achieved high levels of success in terms of training young scientists to carry on the work in the future. The project has collaborated with local education authorities to change the degree system within the main university in Kazakhstan from the old Soviet system to a new system of bachelors, masters and PhD programmes. Indeed through the work of this project, Kazakhstan has now achieved its first two students graduating with a PhD and a third is preparing her thesis. Through NATO funding, these young scientists have been able to study and travel and learn from their peers in NATO and Partner countries.
End results
In 2007 at the end of the project, a final report was produced detailing the results and was made available to key Kazakh agencies and Government stakeholders. A well-equipped monitoring team was established at the Kazakh Institute of Radiation Safety and Ecology and is continuing the work at the STS, and other former-Soviet nuclear test sites within Kazakhstan. The project has also established the al-Farabi Kazakh National University as a regional centre for training radiochemists and radioecologists.
