Nuclear landscapes and irradiated people: The ecological consequences of the Soviet nuclear project and its reappraisal in Russia and Kazakhstan (1986–2024)

The project examines how Russia and Kazakhstan deal with their nuclear past and shows that repression, trivialisation and a lack of reappraisal have dangerous political consequences, e.g. the instrumental exploitation of nuclear issues. The objects of investigation are three ‘nuclear landscapes’ (the former nuclear weapons test site in Semipalatinsk, the radioactively contaminated territory in the Southern Urals (Kyshtym accident) and the Totsk military test site) as locations of the Soviet nuclear project. It becomes clear how the Soviet pursuit of nuclear modernity not only destroyed nature and bodies, but also created specific spaces of memory and narratives. The study combines environmental history, technological history and cultural history, sheds light on the unresolved legacy of authoritarian systems and asks how their legacy continues to have political and social repercussions today – especially against the backdrop of current conflicts and energy policy decisions.