Stay updated with breaking news from Atomic Steppe. Get real-time updates on events, politics, business, and more. Visit us for reliable news and exclusive interviews.
A recent speech by Kazakhstan’s president outlines the growing importance of trans-national water and electricity generation issues; and nuclear energy is increasingly being floated as a potential solution.
Crew from destroyed Challenger 2 Tank survived...
In this week’s edition: Uzbek President’s daughter takes senior post, Central Asia pays more attention to water, Kazakhstan’s nuclear power plant plans, and more.
Kazakh officials are moving forward with plans to build the country’s first nuclear power plant, although unsurprisingly, there is public opposition. On August 29, 1949, the Soviet Union exploded its first atomic bomb over an area in northeastern Kazakhstan. Over the next 40 years, there were 455 more tests in the same area and the effects of the radiation continue to cause suffering today. Joining host Bruce Pannier to talk about Kazakhstan’s nuclear legacy is Togzhan Kassenova, author of the widely acclaimed book Atomic Steppe: How Kazakhstan Gave Up the Bomb.
In the past two months, a diplomatic offensive involving high-profile visits has highlighted Kazakhstan as the nexus of Eurasian diplomacy and strengthened nuclear cooperation between the United States and Kazakhstan, writes Dr. Stephen J. Blank, senior fellow at FPRI’s Eurasia Programme. But today’s successes have deep roots: Kazakhstan’s then-president Nursultan Nazarbayev’s three-decades-old decision to dismantle […]