Kazakhstan. Belokamenka. Bus stop with drawings of a man and a horse. In the distant on the dirt road, a man walks alone. The village of Belokamenka is near the Semipalatinsk Polygon ( called today National Nuclear Center of Kazakhstan), 456 atomic testing - 116 atmospheric, 340 underground - from 1949 to 1989. The regions high frequency of various diseases is primarily due to fallout from nearby nuclear test sites with human and environmental effects of nuclear radiation, genetic contamination and pollution from atomic tests programs of the former Soviet Union. Belokamenka is located in the Eastern Kazakhstan Province. © 2008 Didier Ruef .