Title Atomic steppe : how Kazakhstan gave up the bomb / Togzhan Kassenova

Published Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, [2022]

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Description 1 online resource (xviii, 362 pages) Contents The steppe -- Forty years of nuclear tests -- The human toll -- The nation rises -- The swan song of the Soviet Union -- Fears in Washington and Alma-Ata -- A temporary nuclear power -- The final push -- Project Sapphire and the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program -- Farewell to bombs -- Epilogue : reimagining the atomic steppe Summary "Atomic Steppe tells the untold true story of how the obscure country of Kazakhstan said no to the most powerful weapons in human history. With the fall of the Soviet Union, the marginalized Central Asian republic suddenly found itself with the world's fourth largest nuclear arsenal on its territory. Would it give up these fire-ready weapons--or try to become a Central Asian North Korea? This book takes us inside Kazakhstan's extraordinary and little-known nuclear history from the Soviet period to the present. For Soviet officials, Kazakhstan's steppe was not an ecological marvel or beloved homeland, but an empty patch of dirt ideal for nuclear testing. Two-headed lambs were just the beginning of the resulting public health disaster for Kazakhstan--compounded, when the Soviet Union collapsed, by the daunting burden of becoming an overnight nuclear power. Equipped with intimate personal perspective and untapped archival resources, Togzhan Kassenova introduces us to the engineers turned diplomats, villagers turned activists, and scientists turned pacifists who worked toward disarmament. With thousands of nuclear weapons still present around the world, the story of how Kazakhs gave up their nuclear inheritance holds urgent lessons for global security"-- Provided by publisher Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on February 16, 2022) Subject Nuclear disarmament -- Kazakhstan -- History Nuclear weapons -- Government policy -- Kazakhstan -- History Nuclear weapons -- Kazakhstan -- History Nuclear weapons -- Kazakhstan -- Testing -- History POLITICAL SCIENCE / International Relations / Arms Control. Nuclear disarmament Nuclear weapons Nuclear weapons -- Government policy Nuclear weapons -- Testing Kazakhstan Genre/Form History Form Electronic book LC no. 2021050059 ISBN 9781503629936 1503629937

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