The Semipalatinsk test site appears to be one of the largest in the world and the largest on the territory of the former Soviet Union and, generated by hundreds of nuclear tests, they raised problems that require solutions. I will try to cover only some aspects of the problem. First I would like to reveal a fundamental contradiction in the very functioning of this test site: its use in the arms race by the totalitarian Soviet regime without considering security issues leads to a humanitarian disaster that caused the death and health of hundreds of thousands of people. Secondly, I will try to understand how and why social activity increased in the former Soviet Union which then led to the closure of the test site – for the first time in world history.1. Operation of the test site: political-military and humanitarian aspectsWhen talking about the creation and operation of the Semipalatinsk test site, we can imagine the problem from different points of view. From a political-military point of view, the Semipalatinsk test site was part of the Soviet nuclear program. The Semipalatinsk test site was not the only one in the USSR (as nuclear tests were also carried out at such test sites and in Totskoye, Sary-Shagan and New Land), however it hosted more than 70% of all tests nuclear power plants, among which were some of the most important. I think there could be several reasons, as far as one can understand by studying this phenomenon. Firstly, the convenient location of the site: the topography made it possible to carry out underground explosions both in wells and wells. Secondly, the main scientific base – equipment, laboratories, guard centers, etc. – were concentrated on this site and in a specially created «secret» city in its vicinity, which takes its name from the example of others… middle of paper… the government had not kept its promise to reduce the number and the power of the explosions and claimed that the “popular marathon” had begun, which meant that any new test would provoke a total strike in Kazakhstan. The government had no choice but to freeze the tests, and further disruptions of the USSR, Moscow's default in August 1991 and the actual collapse of the country pushed NANazarbayev, then president of the Kazakh SSR, to take the following crucial step: sign a decree on August 29, 1991 that closed the test site. Between 1991 and 1992, under the United States' Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, Kazakhstan received assistance to eliminate the danger of radioactive materials ending up in the hands of terrorists from landfills. However, the major humanitarian consequences of four decades of nuclear testing are still being felt today.