Atomic Steppe: How Kazakhstan Gave Up the Bomb

The Central Asia Program invites you to a Nuclear Policy Talk presented by the Institute for International Science and Technology Policy

Atomic Steppe: How Kazakhstan Gave Up the Bomb

Featuring author: Dr. Togzhan Kassenova, Project on International Security, Commerce, and Economic Statecraft (PISCES) at the Center for Policy Research, SUNY-Albany

Moderated by: Professor Sharon Squassoni, Institute for International Science and Technology Policy at the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University 

This will be an in-person event.

Lindner Commons (Room 602) | 1957 E ST NW | Washington, DC 20052

*Please see the end of this message for information on COVID-19 protocols.*

About the Book

Atomic Steppe tells the untold true story of how the obscure country of Kazakhstan said no to the most powerful weapons in human history. With the fall of the Soviet Union, the marginalized Central Asian republic suddenly found itself with the world’s fourth-largest nuclear arsenal on its territory. Would it give up these fire-ready weapons—or try to become a Central Asian North Korea?

This book takes us inside Kazakhstan’s extraordinary and little-known nuclear history from the Soviet period to the present. For Soviet officials, Kazakhstan’s steppe was not an ecological marvel or beloved homeland, but an empty patch of dirt ideal for nuclear testing. Two-headed lambs were just the beginning of the resulting public health disaster for Kazakhstan—compounded, when the Soviet Union collapsed, by the daunting burden of becoming an overnight nuclear power.

Equipped with intimate personal perspective and untapped archival resources, Togzhan Kassenova introduces us to the engineers turned diplomats, villagers turned activists, and scientists turned pacifists who worked toward disarmament. With thousands of nuclear weapons still present around the world, the story of how Kazakhs gave up their nuclear inheritance holds urgent lessons for global security.

About the Author

Dr. Togzhan Kassenova is a senior fellow with the Project on International Security, Commerce, and Economic Statecraft (PISCES) at the Center for Policy Research, SUNY-Albany. She is an expert on nuclear politics, WMD nonproliferation, strategic trade controls, sanctions implementation, and financial crime prevention. She currently works on issues related to proliferation financing controls, exploring ways to minimize access of proliferators to the global financial system. Kassenova holds a Ph.D. in Politics from the University of Leeds and is a Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS). She recently completed an executive MA degree in Financial Integrity from the School of Law at Case Western Reserve University. Kassenova is a nonresident fellow in the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. From 2011 to 2015 Kassenova served on the UN secretary general’s Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters.

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