Recognizing International Day Against Nuclear Tests

Floor Speech

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Ms. TITUS. Mr. Speaker, I rise to mark the 15th annual International Day Against Nuclear Tests on August 29, and to commend the Republic of Kazakhstan for its role in working collaboratively with the United States to pursue nuclear disarmament and our shared nonproliferation goals. In doing so, our two countries have preserved peace, stability, and a world free from the ever-present threat of nuclear conflict.

When the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991, it left behind 35,000 nuclear weapons at sites across the Eurasian landmass. With thousands of nuclear-armed ICBMs in places like Belarus and Ukraine, the newly- formed Republic of Kazakhstan inherited the world's fourth-largest nuclear arsenal, which was also home of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site. From Semipalatinsk's establishment in 1946 to its decommission in 1995, Soviet authorities carried out 468 nuclear tests at the test site. The total impact of these tests between 1949 and 1963 was 2,500 times more powerful than the atomic bomb the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima. The toxic radioactive fallout these tests yielded caused irreparable damage to more than 1.3 million people in Kazakhstan and severe ecological harm to the area surrounding the test site.

In 1989, before the dissolution of the Soviet Union, anti-nuclear war activists in Kazakhstan established the Nevada-Semipalatinsk Movement. This grassroots initiative supported by victims of Nevada's own nuclear legacy sought the closure of Semipalatinsk and the cessation of nuclear testing. Of the 18 planned detonations in 1989, 11 were stopped thanks to the group's committed advocacy and resilience. The Nevada- Semipalatinsk Movement underscores the bond and shared history between Nevadans and Kazakhs.

Despite any strategic advantage that retention of the Soviet Union's arsenal may have provided to Kazakhstan, its leadership understood the potential political, humanitarian, and environmental ramifications of its development. On August 29, 1991, Kazakhstan made the historic and noble decision to close the Semipalatinsk test site. In its place, the National Nuclear Center of Kazakhstan was established to assist in eliminating the infrastructure for the storage and use of nuclear weapons. It would also provide scientific and technical support for the peaceful use of atomic energy.

In 1992, Kazakhstan ratified the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START 1) and a few years later, all of Kazakhstan's 104 ICBMs were safely removed and destroyed. The Kazakh government doubled-down on its commitment to global peace, security, and nonproliferation by becoming a party to the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons in 1993, a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency in 1994, and a cosigner of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty in 1996.

Meanwhile, in partnership with the United States, Kazakhstan removed 1,322 pounds of highly enriched uranium from the Ulba Metallurgical Plant under the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program. As part of this program, our two countries took monumental steps to remove residual materials and technologies related to weapons of mass destruction in Kazakhstan, signaling a major shift in the global security and political paradigm and building momentum that catalyzed the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

In 2010, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for an International Day Against Nuclear Tests. Thus, August 29th was selected to commend and recognize Kazakhstan's honorable decision to close the Semipalatinsk test site and renounce nuclear weapons.

With Cold War-style nuclear saber-rattling becoming the new norm, it is important, on this International Day Against Nuclear Tests, to highlight the successful steps taken by the United States and Kazakhstan to mitigate the dangers of nuclear weapons, institute global nonproliferation regimes, and adhere to international norms around nuclear testing.

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