MERGEN

 ATOMIC SECRETS, 2025

Short documentary, 13 min
Director: Zhanana Kurmasheva
Producer: Banu Ramazanova
Music: Akmaral Mergen

Guardian Documentaries (April 2025); also published by Aeon
Drawn from the feature documentary We Live Here

Dmitry Kalmykov is a Ukrainian scientist who has dedicated his life to investigating environmental disasters, first at Chornobyl and now in Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan - formerly the Soviet Union's primary nuclear weapons testing site.

He teaches schoolchildren about how bombs were tested, and how – more than 30 years after the site was decommissioned – the surrounding community is only beginning to comprehend radiation's lasting deadly effects. Against the backdrop of war in Ukraine and the long shadow of a nuclear conflict across the region, Dmitry debates Kazakhstan's nuclear future with its next generation.