Before travelling to The Polygon itself, or as a standalone visit, the nuclear testing museum in central Semey puts the history of the test site into human and political context. The exhibits cover the physics and logistics of the Soviet testing programme, the documented health consequences for the surrounding population, and the Nevada-Semipalatinsk anti-nuclear movement — the grassroots campaign that began here in 1989 and is credited with helping bring the tests to an end.
The Nevada-Semipalatinsk movement, founded by Kazakh poet Olzhas Suleimenov, drew international attention by linking the struggles of communities affected by nuclear testing in Nevada and Kazakhstan. Within two years of the movement's founding, the Soviet Union had stopped testing at the site. It was one of the most successful anti-nuclear campaigns of the Cold War, and it started in this city. The museum documents that story with photographs, testimonies, and documents that are difficult to look at and impossible to forget.