Hiroshima governor visits former nuclear test site in Kazakhstan
Governor Yuzaki Hidehiko is on a trip to the Central Asian country to deepen collaboration with the former Soviet republic on the elimination of nuclear arms.
On Thursday, Yuzaki went to the museum in the city of Kurchatov, which stands next to the former Semipalatinsk nuclear testing site.
Museum officials told the governor that the former Soviet Union conducted more than 450 nuclear tests and recorded various data at observation centers at the site. The governor listened to their explanations while observing models on display.
The former testing site spans an area of about 18,000 square kilometers, full of grassy fields. Yuzaki toured a four-story concrete building, which was used as an observation station.
When the site was in use, observation stations were reportedly set up at equal intervals from the hypocenter and used to take photographs of nuclear explosions.
The experiments are said to have caused health problems in 1.5 million people at the site and in surrounding areas.
The Hiroshima governor is scheduled to meet some of those who had been exposed to nuclear radiation on Friday.
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