In pictures: Kurchatov - Life after the bomb
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Kurchatov lies in the frozen north of Kazakhstan along a road punctuated by abandoned villages and buildings. -
The town, founded in 1947, was infamous as the operations base from which Soviet scientists conducted approximately 700 nuclear tests between 1949 and 1989. -
The city's population fell from over 30,000 in 1991 to just 8,000 as many Russian specialists returned home and others left due to the levels of contamination. -
The town was once a forbidden military zone and empty buildings are everywhere, even at the town's centre. -
However, the statue of the physicist who headed the tests, Igor Kurchatov, now surveys a town that is finding new purpose. -
The Russian Orthodox Church was previously the dacha of Stalin's notorious henchman, secret police chief Lavrenty Beria. -
Renovations are taking place as the number of inhabitants is on the rise. -
Much of the current population of about 8,000 is very young, Tanya and her friends are just a few of the 1,000 children now attending school here. -
What is less clear is how much of the land in the nuclear test range can be reclaimed. -
For all the development, many buildings still stand empty - relics from the time it was a closed city. -
Construction money is coming in from various sources, and the town plans to restore six housing blocs over the next two years.