"My home: Nuclear Base", Episode 01 "First Memory"
Channel: Timofey Yuriev
Date: 16/05/2012

"First Memory"

I grew up in Kazakhstan, at the place called by many names: Semipalatinsk-21, Moscow-400, Kurchatov, Country Limonia, Final Stop, Range of Death, and etc.. These names known only by certain people. You couldn't find this town on the map. It's a secret nuclear testing range. The birthplace of Soviet nuclear weaponry, and some of the most bizarre nuclear research projects. In this place, since 1949, Soviet army did more than 600 nuclear explosions, above the ground, below and in the air. As well as thermonuclear, hydrogen tests. My mother and father were nuclear physicists. My mother spent her time, studying consequences of nuclear explosions on the life matter. My father was building testing ranges, and blowing them up...

In 1991, russian government withdrew it's military forces from the kazakhstan, leaving behind scientists, and workers of the testing range. After russian army left, Kazakh nomads went thru the city taking it apart, brick by brick. What used to be one of the most unique, most scientifically advanced places on earth, as well as my home... was destroyed. 

First Memory:

Everything shakes, I hear the rumble, i'm in the middle of the room. One of the pictures falls of the wall and its glass breaks. There is a woman standing and holding herself in the frame of the kitchen door. Out of the top of the frame the brick falls out and lands on the woman's foot. She screams. I run to her and see there is blood coming from her wounded leg. I run to the kitchen and get some medical supplies, rushing to get back to the woman to put some iodine on her foot. The woman is my mother. I'm 3 years old, and I'm calm. This is my normal life. The earthquake is a side effect of nuclear test happening nearby. These tests happen around here on a regular base, about one time per month. 

The School:

At 7 years of age, I was in the second grade. Approximately one time per month our teachers would bring us out of school, and place us in front of it, in one line. We would stand there, for about 30 min, until the nuclear blast would pass, so we would not be buried alive under the rumbles. We were standing there, one to one, anticipating something happening. We would just wait calmly, expecting our school to collapse. It never did. After that, we would go back in the building, and continue with our studies.

Bionic Factor:

After my birth, my blood was tested, and, to my mother's surprise, discovered some type of anomaly, an adaptation to the higher levels of radiation. A mutation, hidden from the naked eye, allowing me to survive higher levels of radiation...
Couple years later my brother was born. He also had similar type of adaptation. We've been told by the scientists, that everyone, who was born on the nuclear range, had these mutations. During lines of tests, our military, discovered, that we are unaffected by anesthetics such as morphine and similar substances. We were told, that in case of the nuclear holocaust, me, my brother, and people alike, would be the ones, who could survive and continue existence on this planet. 

About our Episodes:

A little while ago, me, and my brother decided to go back to our home place, the nuclear base in the middle of kazakhstan. Upcoming episodes represent a preview of all of our collected material. 

Join us at the epicenter of 116 nuclear explosions at the next episode. 

--
Short documentary episodes. 
Life at the Nuclear Testing Range "Semipalatinsk-21" in Kazakhstan.

Producers: Timofey & Konstantin Yuriev
Date: March, 2012
Place: Semipalatinsk-21 (Kurchatov), Kazakhstan
Copyright © 2012, www.yuriev.tv