Cleaning up and moving on: Kazakhstan's 'nuclear renaissance'

Alexander, Catherine

Abstract

How do we reconcile a resilient nuclear past with what appears to be a radiant nuclear future? Kazakhstan has freed itself from the legacy of the Cold War - contaminated lands and radiation-related pathologies - to move forward. Cleaning, after all, can indicate either removing contamination or simply cashing out. Is the reconfiguration of the relationship between the city and the test site another example of the post-industrial city of Kurchatov reinventing itself and putting itself on the map - or is there something special or exceptional about the nuclear work, heritage, towns and people? The article shows that sometimes there are insurmountable tensions in state actions to ensure the security of both a particular version of the nuclear past on Kazakh soil and the nuclear future as a distinctly Kazakh enterprise. This, in turn, affects the ability of the city of Kurchatov to rebuild its relationship with the site and move forward.

Citation

Alexander, C. (2020). Cleaning up and moving on: Kazakhstan's 'nuclear renaissance'. Habaršy Хабаршы (Ķazaķ memlekettìk ķyzdar pedagogikalyķ universitet) (Қазақ мемлекеттік қыздар педагогикалық университеті), 4, 113-125

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 14, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Jan 15, 2021
• Publication Date: 2020
• Deposit Date: Feb 12, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 12, 2023
• Journal: Bulletin of the Kazakh National Women's Teacher Training University
• Print ISSN: 2306-5079
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 4
• Article Number: 84
• Pages: 113-125
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1280514
• Publisher URL: https://vestnik.kazmkpu.kz/jour/article/view/298