A set of three old and unrelated photos from the former Soviet Union nuclear test site in Kazakhstan are being shared on social media, falsely claiming they show members of the U.S. Department of Energy inspecting nuclear fallout near Pakistan’s Kirana Hills, allegedly following an Indian strike.
The viral photos are being shared after many news channels aired discussions speculating whether India had targeted nuclear installations at Kirana Hills in Pakistan. The Indian armed forces on May 12, 2025, in the press briefing denied that India had targeted the said location.
The three photos show a fenced-off site and groups of people inspecting the area. They are being shared on X with the caption: “Members of the US Department of Energy were seen near Pakistan’s #KiranaHills, which were hit by India on May 9. #NuclearLeak.”
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FACT-CHECK: Old Photos From Kazakhstan’s Soviet-Era Nuclear Test Site
BOOM found that the viral photos are old and unrelated, and were taken at Kazakhstan’s Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, a former Soviet Union nuclear facility.
Semipalatinsk test site also known as "The Polygon" is an 18,000-square-kilometre area on the Kazakh Steppe in Kazakhstan where the former Soviet Union had conducted 456 nuclear tests before the site was officially closed for testing in 1991. The Polygon is now home to research on the effects of these old tests on the surrounding ecology and is also open for tours.
We ran a reverse image search using Google Lens which showed that the photos are old pre-dating the ongoing conflict between India and Pakistan.
Photo 1: Group of men with masks exiting a fallout shelter
BOOM found that the viral photo was taken from an August 2012 WordPress blog by Carl Willis, documenting his July 2012 visit to the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site.
The viral photo appears in the blog post with the caption “Experimental bomb shelter.” Several other photos from the site are included in the post, including a group photo showing the same individuals seen in the viral image.
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Photo 2: Group of people wearing protective gear, including helmets and masks, exiting a tunnel.
The second photo was published in an August 2021 article on a Kazakhstani government website featuring a photo exhibition commemorating 30 years since the closure of the Semipalatinsk test site.
In the original photo we can see that the sign board is written in Russian, which would not be the case if it was from Pakistan. This can be seen below:
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The article mentions that since 2004, Kazakhstan, Russia, and the United States have collaborated on projects to mitigate the effects of past nuclear testing and reinforce physical barriers at the former Semipalatinsk test site. It states that a comprehensive environmental survey began in 2008 and was set to be completed in 2021. Other photos from the article also show officials in white protective suits inspecting the site for radiation.
Photo 3: Group of people in white protective suits walking across an open steppe
BOOM found that the third photo appears in an August 2015 ABC News report about the Semipalatinsk site being opened to tourists. The article stated that the photos in it were taken on the steppe which is a wide, flat plain of yellow grasses shaded with grey wormwood.
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