Bellona Archive

The Soviet Union performed 715 nuclear weapons tests, 132 of which took place on the test ranges of Novaya Zemlya Island, 900 kilometres north-west of Norway’s Finnmark County and 280 kilometres east of the Russian mainland town of Amaderm. Testing on Novaya Zemlya ceased in 1990, but of the test performed there beginning in 1957, 86 were atmospheric, 43 were underground and three were underwater. Results from the fallout from the Novaya Zemlya tests remains an issue, especially in Finnmark. In 1990, prior to cessation of tests on Novaya Zemlya, Bellona activists traveled to surrounding waters to protest.