These Images Don’t Show US Dept of Energy Members Visiting Pak's Kirana Hills

All these images show visuals from from a nuclear test site located now in Kazakhstan.

Fact-Check | The set of images is old and unrelated to Pakistan.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

A set of three images is being shared on the internet to claim that they show people associated with the United States Department of Energy recently visiting Pakistan's Kirana Hills.

What did the viral post say?: Those sharing the image have uploaded it with a caption saying, "Members of the US Department of Energy were seen near Pakistan's #KiranaHills , which were hit by India on May 9. #NuclearLeak."

An archive of the post can be found here.

(Source: X (formerly Twitter)/Screenshot)

At the time of writing this report, the above post had garnered around 77 thousand views on the platform. Archives of similar such claims can be found here and here.

What are the facts?: The images are old and have no connection to Pakistan. All of them are from a nuclear test site located now in Kazakhstan.

Image 1: We conducted a Google Lens search on the first image and came across the same visual uploaded on a Wordpress blog written by one Carl Willis.

• The author had talked about his visit to the Semipalatinsk Nuclear test site located in Kazakhstan.

• The blog was published on 13 August 2012.

The blog was shared in August 2012.

(Source: Wordpress/Screenshot)

Image 2: A simple reverse image search directed us to the same photograph shared on the official website of the Government of Kazakhstan.

• The blog talked about a photo exhibition that was displayed on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site's closure.

• It was published on 27 August 2021.

The photo has been available since August 2021.

(Source: Government of Kazakhstan/Screenshot)

Image 3: The same image was found on the official website of Australia's ABC News using the help of a Google Lens search.

• The report was shared on 13 August 2015, which talked about the Soviet Union's nuclear test site named Semipalatinsk Test Site or "The Polygon".

The report was published on 13 August 2015.

(Source: ABC/Screenshot)

Conclusion: All these images are evidently old and has no connection to the recent escalations between India and Pakistan.

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