Bea at ten oclock Michelle Hussain will be a full round up of the days news. First, this weeks edition of our world. First, this weeks edition of our world. On the barren steppe of central asia, hidden from the world, a testing ground, where, over a0 years, 500 Nuclear Bombs were exploded by the soviet union. They called it the polygon. The local population was supposed to have been sent to safety, but some were made to watch. Thousands lived in villages that werent cleared. Villagers endured radioactive exposure the scale of which the world has never seen. 25 years after the polygon was abandoned by the soviet union, the effects still blight young peoples lives. This is a film about the victims of the Nuclear Testing in the polygon, and one man who has dedicated his life to preventing it from ever happening again. Karipbek kuyukov was born in 1968 in the furthest flung corners of the then soviet empire, here in the vast expanse of the kazakh steppe. Karipbeks parents had already lost two children. Outwardly they looked healthy, but neither had survived to their first birthday. Karipbek has devoted his life to painting, and, without hands, he paints entirely with his mouth. Watching him work is to witness a triumph of a human being over adversity and history. His subject is here, the so called polygon an area in kazakhstan the size of belgium. Traditionally sparsely inhabited by nomadic shepherds, then it was turned into the Worlds Largest laboratory. Over the space of a0 years, and in total secrecy, the soviet union carried out some 500 Nuclear Explosions here. They named it the polygon russian for testing ground. Today, the polygons landscape is scattered with the detritus of this vast experiment. Observation towers built to test the effect of explosions. Huge craters filled with radioactive water dead lakes, as the nomads call them. Testimony to an experiment that began in the 1940s. The soviet Nuclear Programme was hurriedly launched by stalin in 1946, and tasked to catch up with the americans. In charge was the head of stalins secret police, lavrentiy beria. He needed an enormous area for the polygon in theory, with no inhabitants. This man was there at the start. Hes now 82 years old. In fact, he was one of a group of 43 people from his village with special instructions. They were given a tent and a picnic and told to wait. They had no idea what was going to happen. They had just witnessed a Nuclear Explosion from seven kilometres. Thats when their problems began. Of the 43 who stayed behind for the picnic, all but he died prematurely. The testing continued, taking a toll on his family, too. The precise events he recounts are very hard to confirm, lost in the sheer volume of the tests and passage of time. The Nuclear Programme was conducted in total secrecy by the soviet military throughout the tense years of the cold war, and records of what happened here have never been released. What is known is that for decades atomic bombs were detonated here on the kazakh steppes, their impact measurable on all that stood or was placed in their wake. Natural landscapes, animals, military hardware, Apartment Blocks and people. Even now, the archives remain closed. In todays kazakhstan, stories abound of unwitting locals being deployed in the tests, some believe to observe the effects of radiation on humans. Two hours later, the men returned. They said they had been taken back to their own village to view the after effects of an explosion. Today, karipbek lives away from the polygon area, in the nearby town of karaganda. Its just 250 kilometres from the test site, yet throughout the soviet years, none of its 300,000 inhabitants were permitted to know what the tests were all about. By the late 1980s, awareness was building in kazakhstan, culminating in a nationwide movement demanding a stop to the tests. The Young Karibek became a figure of the movement and an activist. Here he was filmed at a so called dead lake, the extraordinary product of Underground Testing that had now filled with lethally radioactive water. It was the location of an event that profoundly shocked him. The anti Nuclear Testing Campaign Began here and merged with The Movement For Democracy And Independence in kazakhstan. The soviet union collapsed in 1991. Kazakhstan won its independence. The polygon was dismantled, and those who worked there returned to russia. But the closing of the polygon and a stop to Nuclear Testing were not the end of the story. A0 years of experimentation with Deadly Nuclear weapons is thought to have affected some 650,000 people. Doctors like Talgat Muldagaliev are still working to address the Health Impact of an unprecedented scale of contamination. Kazakh doctors have identified zones of varying levels of contamination around the polygon. Now, worrying signs of radiation linked conditions are cropping up in places much further from the test area than previously expected. Areas that had been considered safe. Today, dr muldagaliev has come to see a new patient, a 55 year old from a village 250 kilometres from the polygon. The patient has had a sudden and sharp rise in blood pressure, putting him at risk of a heart attack. Despite the suddenness of the symptoms and his relatively young age, he is not responding to treatment, possible signs of a Heart Condition caused by radiation. And there are other facts in his family medical history that point to the polygon. But it seems you dont need to have been born during the time of tests to be affected. You can inherit Health Problems in your genes. This is the village of znamenka. Its less than 200 kilometres from the polygon, and so in the zone known as maximum risk. This woman is 25, and she has been visited by her doctor. Until six years ago, she was leading an ordinary life. But as she started at university, her body started doing alarming things. Then the headaches began and she was diagnosed with a brain tumour, which was affecting her hormones. Next, she contracted diabetes and her eyesight in one eye is failing. From his studio flat back in karaganda, karipbek remains in close contact with other victims of the testing, and remains a Leading Light in a continuing campaign for a nuclear free world. In the early 1990s, he and some others received modest compensation from the kazakh government, but nothing since. The country responsible for the testing, the soviet union, no longer exists, and no compensation has been forthcoming from its main successor country, russia. But karipbek doesnt expect anything from russia. Kazakhstan is now a proudly independent country, seeking to project an image of modernity and openness to the wider world. Its capital city, astana, was purpose built onto an existing provincial town. Its centrepiece, a monument representing the tree of life, a globe nestled safely at the top. Its a big day for karipbek. He has travelled to the capital with someone special. Theyre here as honoured guests at a high Profile International conference celebrating the 25th Anniversary of the closing of the polygon. Delegates have come from other countries that have suffered the effects of Nuclear Testing. The conference is hosted by the kazakh president. Karipbeks work is exhibited in a foyer. Karipbeks work has attracted the attention of the other delegates. There are still children being born with horrific deformities, and that will continue for the foreseeable future. Its happening in st george, utah, which is downwind of the nevada test site. Its happening in the marshall islands, where women are still giving birth to so called Jellyfish Babies babies without bones. The lasting effects of testing are, sort of, forewarnings of what will happen if Nuclear Weapons are used again. Hello, it is getting towards the end of february, but it felt much more like spring this weekend than winter, and the reason is down to oui winter, and the reason is down to our wind direction. It has been coming off the atlantic and it is very mild. The week ahead shows some changes. This cold and moved south and then northwards again and we will see a seesaw in our temperatures. We have got the jet stream, which is driving our Weather Front from west to east. At times we will be in the cold air to the north and at times in the milder air to the south. But all the time we will see a daisy chain of whether france delivering rain and wind. Tomorrow there will be gusts of wind and there will be gusts of wind and there will be Coastal Hill Fog further south, so it will be quite a great start to the day. If the sun comes out of the south, we could see temperatures of 16 or 17 degrees. Fresh air by that stage in the north of scotland. We could see A Touch Of Frost on monday night and into tuesday in the glens of scotland. The mild air holds firm in the southern part of the country. But between those two for a time there will be brighter weather around. Then that wet and windy weather returns to the north west and we have got a lot of rain and cloud in the south. There are gusts in the north because of the approach of this low pressure and it could give us some severe gales. This low pressure and it could give us some severe gales. You this low pressure and it could give us some severe gales. You can see how tightly packed the isobars are. There is some arctic air potentially. But in the south we have got that band of cloud with outbreaks of rain and quite mild air. In the north it will feel considerably colder because it is blowing a gale. On thursday this could again be a very deep area of low pressure giving as gales. But its track is uncertain. Because we have got that cold air established in the north, when the Weather Front comes in we could see some snow for a time. Also in north westerly wind follows on and we are into the colder air by the end of the week. By colder air by the end of the week. By friday it looks like the driest and brightest day of the week. It stars on a cold note, temperatures will not be high, only 7 10. But already by friday we have got that next by the front that is not too far away. This Meandering Pattern continues. The weather will continue to be changeable with spells of wet and windy weather into the north west. Where we have got the brighter spells, we have got the lower temperatures and where we have got the milder air we have got leaden skies. At times there will be spells of windy weather with some gales potentially, but the temperatures will be higher. We continue that seesaw as we go through to the end of the period. Very changeable weather. You can find more on the website. The battle for mosul. They are only a couple of comet is over that way and they know that these men are coming. The assault has started. We will have the latest to liberate people. But will it be enough to keep staff in Problem Jails . You look at whats happening last night in sweden. Sweden who would believe this . Last night in sweden. Sweden last night in sweden. After President Trump appears to speak of a Security Incident that never happened, sweden asks the United States for an explanation. Sweden asks the United States
comparemela.com © 2020. All Rights Reserved.