Astana, 6 August - The VI International Conference on “Monitoring of Nuclear Tests and Their Consequences” will take place in Kurchatov in Kazakhstan on August 9-13. The Conference will gather leading international academics, scientists and politicians.

The objective of the conference is to give a new impetus to developments on the issue of Nuclear Tests, as well as to give a new direction for Geophysical Research in Kazakhstan, more specifically on the monitoring of nuclear tests and the use of its data in a number of important areas of applied research in Kazakhstan.

The Conference will most particularly focus on three issues:
- The development of new systems and technologies for nuclear tests monitoring,
- Methods and results of research on detection, evaluation and identification of events using various methods of observation,
- And research on the consequences of previously conducted nuclear tests.

Organizers include the Kazakh Ministry of Industry and New Technology, Kazakhstan’s National Nuclear Centre (NNC), the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO), Norway’s NORSAR, the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) and the Institute of Geosphere Dynamics-Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).

Kurchatov is a symbolic location as it is located near the former Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, where 456 nuclear tests were conducted in 1949-1989.

Kazakhstan, upon gaining its independence in 1991, was in possession of the world’s 4th largest nuclear arsenal which the country willingly gave up, with the last of its warheads dismantled only just 15 years ago.

Since then, the country has shown its commitment to a nuclear weapon-free world by being the driving force behind several initiatives and becoming member of all international organizations working on this issue (including the IAEA and the CTBTO).