Asian Cities Codexery

Semey

City on the Irtysh, former nuclear test site and regional capital.

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Where it is

Street map of the area around Semey; the red dot marks 50°25′59″N 80°16′01″E
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors

Coordinates: 50°25′59″N 80°16′01″E (50.4330, 80.2670) · Open in OpenStreetMap

Coordinates and connected clubs: the infobox of Wikipedia: Semey (CC BY-SA 4.0). Map: drawn by Codexery from OpenStreetMap tiles.

The city was renamed from Semipalatinsk in 2007 because of negative associations with atomic testing.[1]

Geography and history

The city lies on the Irtysh River, which is crossed by the Semey Bridge, a suspension bridge with a main span of 750 m and total length of 1086 m that opened to traffic in November 2000.[2] The Semipalatinsk Test Site operated from 1949 until 1989, conducting 456 nuclear tests.[3] Except for July, which sees an average of 50 mm, precipitation remains low throughout the year; winter snow is common but not heavy.[4] From October 1941 to July 1942, during World War II, a Polish diplomatic mission was established in the city.[5]

A location 180 km west of the city, on the steppe, was chosen in 1949 by the Soviet atomic bomb program for testing weapons.[3] President Tokayev chose Semey in March 2022 to be the future capital of the Abai Region, which officially became a region of Kazakhstan on 8 June 2022.[6] The first mayoral election in the city took place on October 12, 2025.[7]

What the cited sources add

A CNN report describes Semey as the largest city near the old nuclear testing site, with a museum of mutations at the regional medical institute.[8] The same report notes that the drive from Semipalatinsk (now Semey) across the Kazakh plain was long and grueling.[8] The CNN account states that nuclear fallout has resulted in high rates of cancer, childhood leukemia, and birth defects among residents of neighbouring villages.[9][8]

References

  1. Wikipedia, "Semey" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Семипалатинск исчезнет с карты Казахстана [Semipalatinsk disappears from the map of Kazakhstan]", Lenta.ru, 2007-06-19 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  2. Wikipedia, "Semey" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Semipatalinsk Irtysh River Bridge (2002)", en.structurae.de; "Irtysh River Bridge Construction Project / Field Survey", Japan International Cooperation Agency, September 2006 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Semey" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Vakulchuk, R., Gjerde, K., Belikhina, T. and Apsalikov, K. 2014. Semipalatinsk nuclear testing: the humanitarian consequences. Norwegian Institute of Internatio (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Semey" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Weather and Climate - The Climate of Semipalatinsk (Semey)", Weather and Climate (Погода и климат) (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Semey" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Ceranka, "Urzędy konsularne Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej 1918–1945. Informator archiwalny", Naczelna Dyrekcja Archiwów Państwowych, Ministerstwo Spraw Zagranicznych, 2020, p. 356 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Semey" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "В Казахстане появится четыре новых региона", Interfax.ru (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Wikipedia, "Semey" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Әділет Қожанбаев Семей қаласының жаңа әкімі болып сайланды", Kazinform, 2025-10-14 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  8. "Inside the nuclear underworld: Deformity and fear", CNN, retrieved 2007-08-31. facts only, no text reused. cnn.com
  9. Wikipedia, "Semey" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Inside the nuclear underworld: Deformity and fear", CNN, retrieved 2007-08-31 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Semey (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Named in this entry

Steppe

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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