Disarmament Diplomacy

Issue No. 40, September - October 1999

Conference on Legacy of Semipalatinsk Testing

On September 6-7, a conference was held in Tokyo to consider ways of ameliorating the environmental legacy of Soviet nuclear testing at Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan. The vast testing range, covering more than 32,000 square miles, was the site of 470 tests, over 100 in the atmosphere, between 1949-89. The Conference was co-sponsored by Japan and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and was attended by representatives from over 80 organisations, including 24 Governments, NATO, the World Bank and the European Union. The Conference led to pledges of financial assistance totalling over $20 million.

Report: Chairman's Summary of Tokyo International Conference on Semipalatinsk, September 6-7, 1999, Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs website (http://www.mofa.go.jp).

Return to top of page

Return to List of Contents

Return to Acronym Main Page