NUCLEAR POLYGON, KAZAKHSTAN, NOVEMBER 22 The big dipper is seen over the Nuclear Polygon with the lights of Kurchatov in the horizon Nov. 22, 2008. The Polygon was the site of almost 500 nuclear weapons tests during the Cold War. Villagers living close by were given virtually no protection or warning of the dangers of radiation. The United Nations Development Programme says that over a million people were exposed to nuclear radiation over the forty years of nuclear testing.