Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / War and military activity · Kazakhstan · 1949–2025

Semipalatinsk test site: state compensation to residents under Kazakhstan’s 1992 law

Nature's voice · report
According to the preamble of Kazakhstan’s 1992 law, 40 years of nuclear tests caused irreparable damage to my environment.
Did nature suffer? Yes. Harm is on record.
Recorded
  • My land in Semipalatinsk oblast and the adjacent districts of Pavlodar, East Kazakhstan and Karaganda oblasts was declared a zone of ecological disaster in 1992. Republic of Kazakhstan
  • About 456 nuclear tests took place on my ground between 1949 and 1989: 116 above ground and 340 underground, according to the IAEA. IAEA
What the record lacks: 2 none on record · 1 not disclosed · 1 insufficient · 1 not measured · 3 disputed · 1 unclear See the gaps

A 1992 Kazakh law sets one-time payments, wage and pension supplements and extra leave for people who lived in zones affected by fallout from Soviet nuclear tests. The payments come from Kazakhstan’s own budgets; the Ministry of Labour reported KZT 16.4bn paid to more than 1.1 million people in 1996–2020.

KZT 16.4bnCompensation paid to residents under the 1992 law, 1996–2020
More than 1.1 million recipients, as reported by Kazinform on 27 August 2021 citing the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection.

Status As of the law’s revision of 19 May 2025: the 1992 law remains in force; the Ministry of Labour reported KZT 16.4bn paid to more than 1.1 million people for 1996–2020.

What?
Kazakhstan’s 1992 law sets one-time payments, wage and pension supplements and extra leave for people who lived in zones affected by fallout from Soviet nuclear tests at Semipalatinsk. The Ministry of Labour reported KZT 16.4bn paid to more than 1.1 million people in 1996–2020. Kazinform (citing the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection)
Where?
The former Semipalatinsk Test Site and surrounding districts: the former Semipalatinsk oblast (now Abay and East Kazakhstan regions) and parts of Pavlodar and Karaganda regions. IAEA
When?
Tests from 29 August 1949 to 1989; site closed 29 August 1991; law adopted 18 December 1992; Article 12 rewritten 31 March 2014; Constitutional Court resolution 25 September 2023. Republic of Kazakhstan
Who?
Gained
Lost
  • Kazakhstan’s republican and local budgets — Fund the payments (Art. 19); KZT 16.4bn paid in 1996–2020 Republic of Kazakhstan
Harmed
  • Residents of Semipalatinsk oblast and adjacent districts — Irreparable damage to health, according to the law’s preamble Republic of Kazakhstan
  • The natural environment of the same area — Irreparable damage according to the preamble; declared a zone of ecological disaster Republic of Kazakhstan
Why?
The law’s preamble states that 40 years of testing caused irreparable damage to people’s health and the natural environment. Republic of Kazakhstan
How?
Residents receive payments per year lived in one of five dose-defined zones, in monthly calculation indices, funded from republican and local budgets. Republic of Kazakhstan
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

The Soviet Union carried out about 456 nuclear tests at the Semipalatinsk Test Site between 29 August 1949 and 1989, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA): 116 above ground and 340 underground. The site was officially closed on 29 August 1991, according to Interfax.

On 18 December 1992 Kazakhstan adopted Law No. 1787-XII on the social protection of citizens affected by the nuclear tests. Its preamble states that 40 years of testing “caused irreparable damage to people’s health and the natural environment”, and it declares the whole of Semipalatinsk oblast and the adjacent districts of Pavlodar, East Kazakhstan and Karaganda oblasts a zone of ecological disaster. The zones are defined by the effective equivalent dose over the whole testing period: extreme radiation risk (above 100 rem), maximum (35–100 rem), increased (7–35 rem), minimum (0.1–7 rem), and a territory with privileged socio-economic status (below 0.1 rem, with a psycho-emotional burden).

One-time compensation (Article 12, as rewritten by Law No. 180-V of 31 March 2014) is paid per year of residence in monthly calculation indices (MRP), valued at the MRP in force on the day of payment. For years lived in 1949–1965 the rate is 5.23 MRP in the extreme zone, 2.62 in the maximum zone, 1.57 in the increased zone and 1.05 in the minimum zone; for 1966–1990 it is 1.05, 1.05, 0.79 and 0.52 MRP; the privileged-status territory receives 0.26 MRP per year lived in 1949–1990. Pensioners have priority. Article 13 adds a pension supplement for extreme and maximum zone residents who retired before 1 January 1998 (2.09 and 1.83 MRP), additional pay for work (2 MRP in the extreme zone down to 1 MRP in the privileged territory) and extra paid annual leave of 14, 12, 10, 7 and 5 calendar days by zone.

Article 19 names the funding sources: republican and local budgets, organisations’ funds, donations, charity and international funds. Article 17 provides for health facilities in the affected territories to receive per-capita funding 1.5 times the national average. Kazinform, citing the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, reported on 27 August 2021 that from 1996 to 2020 more than 1.1 million people received the compensation, totalling 16.4 billion tenge. The same release gave 2021 special state allowances: 6.19 MRP (18,057 tenge) a month for direct participants in the tests and 7.55 MRP (22,024 tenge) where illness or disability is causally linked to the tests, plus a state disability benefit of 2.81, 2.40 and 2.01 subsistence minimums for groups I, II and III where a causal link is established. Local top-ups vary: Astana pays a one-off 2.5 MRP (9,830 tenge in 2025) on memorial dates.

The payments have been amended and challenged over time. Presidential Decree No. 1612 of 20 March 1994 suspended the one-time payments until 1 April 1997, and Law No. 119 of 12 July 1994 restored the first six paragraphs of Article 12. On 25 September 2023 the Constitutional Court of Kazakhstan (Normative Resolution No. 30-НП) found Article 13 consistent with the Constitution. In 2023 a member of parliament said of an interagency working group set up in 2021 that “we do not see results of the work”.

  1. 1949First test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site (29 Aug)
  2. 1989Last explosion
  3. 1991Site officially closed (29 Aug)
  4. 1992Law No. 1787-XII adopted (18 Dec); five radiation-risk zones defined
  5. 1994Decree No. 1612 suspends one-time payments (20 Mar); Law No. 119 restores first six paragraphs of Article 12 (12 Jul)
  6. 2014Article 12 rewritten by Law No. 180-V (31 Mar), in force 1 Apr
  7. 2021Kazinform reports KZT 16.4bn paid to more than 1.1 million people in 1996–2020 (27 Aug)
  8. 2023Constitutional Court finds Article 13 consistent with the Constitution (25 Sep)
  9. 2025Law text last amended 19 May; Astana pays 2.5 MRP (9,830 tenge) on memorial dates

What was said

Claims, in the words of those who made them.

“caused irreparable damage to people’s health and the natural environment”

Preamble of Law No. 1787-XII (translated) · 18 December 1992 · translated from Russian · Republic of Kazakhstan

“we do not see results of the work”

Nurlan Auesbayev, member of parliament (OSDP faction), on the 2021 interagency working group (translated) · 24 May 2023 · translated from Russian · Tengrinews

“over most of the test site there is little or no residual radioactivity”

IAEA, Radiological Conditions at the Semipalatinsk Test Site · 1998 · IAEA

Where accounts differ

Each party's account, side by side, with its source. The record does not settle these points; it shows them.

Number of nuclear tests at the Semipalatinsk Test Site
International bodies
IAEA (1998)

About 456 tests (116 above ground, 340 underground).

IAEA
Press and investigations
Tengrinews (2023)

About 468 tests.

Tengrinews
Number of people affected by the tests
Press and investigations
Tengrinews (2023)

Estimates vary, with some above 1.5 million, and official data on the exact number are lacking.

Tengrinews
Government and regulators
Ministry of Labour and Social Protection (via Kazinform, 2021)

More than 1.1 million people received the one-time compensation in 1996–2020.

Kazinform (citing the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection)

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

  • The tests “caused irreparable damage to people’s health and the natural environment”; the whole of Semipalatinsk oblast and adjacent districts declared a zone of ecological disaster
    Law No. 1787-XII, preamble (translated) · Republic of Kazakhstan
  • More than 1.1 million people received compensation totalling KZT 16.4bn in 1996–2020
    Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, via Kazinform · Kazinform (citing the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection)

Recorded

  • Five radiation-risk zones defined by effective equivalent dose over the testing period, from above 100 rem to below 0.1 rem
    Republic of Kazakhstan
  • One-time compensation is per year lived in a zone, in MRP, paid at the MRP of the payment day; pensioners have priority
    Republic of Kazakhstan
  • Payments are funded from republican and local budgets, organisational funds, donations and international funds (Art. 19)
    Republic of Kazakhstan
  • Payments were suspended by presidential decree from 20 March 1994 to 1 April 1997
    Republic of Kazakhstan
  • The Constitutional Court found Article 13 consistent with the Constitution on 25 September 2023
    Republic of Kazakhstan
  • Former energy minister Bolat Akchulakov was reported by Tengrinews in 2023 as saying that heavily contaminated land was not being rehabilitated
    Tengrinews
  • Astana had 3,539 registered holders of test-site certificates on 30 April 2025; Almaty issued 5,363 certificates from 2020
    Tengrinews

Who gained

Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.

Reached nature or the ground

Not published
No figure published.

Gained elsewhere

Not totalled
Compensation paid to more than 1.1 million people under the 1992 law16.4bn
Ministry of Labour and Social Protection figure reported by Kazinform on 27 August 2021.
Currency: KZT · Window: 1996–2020 (payments); 2021 and 2025 (allowance levels). All figures cover the same period. * Estimate built from cited figures.

Responses on record

  • kazakhstan-government (18 December 1992): The preamble of the 1992 law states that the tests caused irreparable damage to people’s health and the natural environment. · Republic of Kazakhstan

In court and with insurers

Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

Lawsuits and rulings

  1. 2023Outcome not on record
    Constitutional review of Article 13 of the 1992 law (Normative Resolution No. 30-НП)
    Constitutional Court of Kazakhstan · Administrative · Petitioner not stated in the law text → Article 13 of Law No. 1787-XII

    On 25 September 2023 the Constitutional Court found Article 13 (pension supplements, additional pay and extra leave) consistent with the Constitution. Republic of Kazakhstan

Insurers

No insurer decision on record.

What nature saw

Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

Tests
about 456
116 above ground and 340 underground, 1949–1989 (IAEA)
Radiation-risk zones
5
Defined by dose over the testing period, from above 100 rem to below 0.1 rem
Paid to residents
KZT 16.4bn
More than 1.1 million people, 1996–2020

What we don't know

Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
No court case

Court

  • Unclear Constitutional review of Article 13 of the 1992 law (Normative Resolution No. 30-НП): outcome not on record.

Accounts

  • Disputed Number of nuclear tests at the Semipalatinsk Test Site
  • Disputed Number of people affected by the tests

Record

  • None on record None on record: any payment by Russia, as the successor state of the USSR, to Kazakhstan or to the affected residents.
  • None on record None on record: insurance cover or insurer payments connected with the tests or the compensation scheme.
  • Insufficient Insufficient: official data on the exact number of affected people; Tengrinews (2023) reported that estimates vary and that some exceed 1.5 million.
  • Not disclosed Not disclosed: a national total of test-site certificate holders; the Ministry of Labour did not give one because the district administrations (akimats) issue the certificates.
  • Not measured Not measured: radiation doses received in the past; the IAEA’s 1998 report states that it does not address their assessment.
  • Disputed Figures differ: the IAEA (1998) gives about 456 tests; Tengrinews (2023) gives about 468.

Did the harm stop?

The last explosion was in 1989 and the site was officially closed on 29 August 1991.

Who paid?

Kazakhstan’s republican and local budgets fund the payments to residents (Art. 19 of the 1992 law). None on record: any payment by Russia as the successor state of the USSR.

Sources

Voices on record: — Company or project✓ Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers✓ International bodies

Government and regulators

Press and investigations

  1. More than 5,000 Kazakhstanis to receive payments for the Day of Closure of the Semipalatinsk test site
    Kazinform (citing the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection) · 2021-08-27

International bodies

Connected cases

Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
Terms used on this page

Law and courts

Arbitration
A private dispute process in which an appointed arbitrator, instead of a court, decides the case.
Constitutional Court
The highest court for questions of constitutional rights in a country.

Carbon and conservation finance

Retired credit
A credit that has been used to make a climate claim and is permanently removed from circulation in the registry.

Science and environment

Groundwater
Water held underground in soil and rock, drawn through wells.
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