Operation Groundhog was reported a joint US-Kazakh-Russian program to secure radioactive residues of Soviet-era nuclear bomb tests, primarily with the intent of preventing their usage in other weapons of destruction, particularly terrorist access to fissile material.
In 2003, a report appeared in Science Magazine [1] explained that over the previous four decades, as a result of more than 450 nuclear detonations in the northeastern region of Kazakhstan, particularly around the Semipalatinsk test site, area the area was contaminated with a significant amount of radioactive material that could potentially be utilised to create a dirty bomb.
The initial plan for the area was to convert it back to pasture and arable farmland. [2] Radiation levels in the region were measured to this end. In some dispersed hotspots, however, radioactive levels were too high for human safety. Areas like these were paved with a thick layer (over six feet) of steel-reinforced concrete.
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