 |
| Uranium mill tailings impoundment at Mailuu-Suu. |
As of 1999 there were 36 uranium tailings sites and 25 uranium mining dump sites on the territory of Kyrgyzstan.[1] Most of the sites are associated with the Mayli-Suu uranium processing facility in Jalalabad Oblast. Other radioactive waste sites include the Kara-Balta Ore Mining Combine, Kadzhi-Say, Khaidarkan, Min Kush, Samsar River, Shekaftar, and Terek-Say.
Many waste sites are located in areas prone to earthquakes and landslides and thus pose an environmental safety hazard to Kyrgyzstan and the region. The crumbling tailings sites at Maily-Suu, for example, have been breached because of past landslides, spilling waste into the nearby Maily-Suu river, which feeds into the Syr Darya, the main water source for the populous Fergana Valley.
In March 1999, ownership of the waste sites was transferred from Kara-Balta Ore Mining Combine and other entities to the Ministry of Emergencies and Civil Defense, which embarked on a TACIS-funded project to monitor the sites and to draw up a long-term clean-up plan.[2] On 29 January 2001 the Kyrgyzstani Parliament passed a bill on waste sites that would provide additional funding for disposal of radioactive waste.[3]
Sources:
[1] G. D., "Kak ukrotit khvosty," Vecherniy Bishkek online edition, http://vb.kyrnet.kg/1999/03/30/05.htm, No. 60, 30 March 1999.
[2] E. Putalova, "Pora obrezat khvosty,"Vecherniy Bishkek online edition, http://vb.kyrnet.kg/1999/03/15/12.htm, No. 49, 15 March 1999.
[3] Alisher Khamidov, "Kyrgyzstan Tackles Toxic Waste," Transitions Online Web Site, http://www.tol.cz, 4 February 2001.{Updated 2/16/01 KB}
A large uranium tailings site containing approximately 150,000 cubic meters of radioactive waste is located near the village of Kadzhi-Say in a dry riverbed valley 1.5km from the shore of Lake Issyk-Kul.
Sources:
[1] Daniil Kyshtobayev, "Uranium Waste In Kyrgyzstan," Slovo Kyrgyzstana, 1 July 1994; in Environmental Policy Review, Winter 1994, Vol. 8, No. 2, p. 15.
[2] Yuriy Razgulyayev, "Radioaktivnyye tochki na karte Kirgizii," Delovoy mir, 6 March 1997, p. 1; in WPS, No. 9, 14 March 1997, p. 13.{Updated 2/16/01 KB)
An industrial waste storage facility is located near the village of Khaidarkan in a seismically active area 7km north of a tectonic fault.
[Daniil Kyshtobayev, "Uranium Waste In Kyrgyzstan," Slovo Kyrgyzstana, 1 July 1994; in Environmental Policy Review, Winter 1994, Vol. 8, No. 2, p. 15.]
From 1946 to 1968, over 10,000 metric tons (t) of uranium ore was processed at Mayli-Suu, located north of Osh in Jalalabad Oblast, to provide raw material for the Soviet nuclear weapons arsenal. The facility processed both locally mined ore and ore brought in from other parts of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.[1] Approximately 2.5 million cubic meters of radioactive waste remains in 23 tailings ponds and 15 dump sites.[2,3] The exact amount and composition of the waste are not known, because the records were taken to Moscow after the plant closed and Russians have rejected Kyrgyzstani requests for access to the documents. The material is buried under thin layers of gravel, sand, and clay. Earthquakes and landslides common to the area threaten to send the material into the nearby Mayli-Suu river and ultimately into the water system of the heavily populated Fergana Valley through the Kara Darya and Syr Darya rivers. In 1958 metric tons of material spilled into the Mayli-Suu river when a tailings reservoir broke.[3] A landslide in July 1994 pushed 1,000 cubic meters of radioactive material into the river and contaminated dozens of square kilometers of land.[1] The city of Mayli-Suu, population 24,000, stretches for seven miles along the Mayli-Suu river, downstream from the tailings ponds.[3]
Sources:
[1] Interfax, 25 February, 1999; in "Kyrgyz Cabinet Urged to Protect Nuclear Storage Sites," FBIS Document FTS19990225001079.
[2] "Posledstviya uranovoy promyshlennosti na Tyan-Shane," Anti-Atom Press Information Bulletin, Ecoline Web Site, http://cci.glasnet.ru/antinuclear/rus/aap/index.htm, No. 153, January 1998.
[3] Douglas Frantz, "Maili Suu Journal: Living at Ground Zero of Possible Atomic Disaster," New York Times, 21 October 2000, p. 4; in Lexis-Nexis Academic Universe, http://web.lexis-nexis.com.{Updated 2/16/01 KB}
Four tailing sites are located near the village of Min Kush, including one containing 450,000 cubic meters of waste.
["Posledstviya uranovoy promyshlennosti na Tyan-Shane," Anti-Atom Press Information Bulletin, Ecoline Web Site, http://cci.glasnet.ru/antinuclear/rus/aap/index.htm, No. 153, January 1998.]{Entered 2/16/01 KB}
Three tailings ponds near the Samsar River containing 4.5 million tons of radioactive uranium rock, lead, and toxic heavy metal salts have been partially eroded allowing a constant inflow of heavy metal pollutants. The Sanitation Authority of Kyrgyzstan reports that the river's manganese level is nine times higher and the cadmium content 320 times higher than the maximum permissible concentrations (neither of these elements can be flushed from the human body).
[Daniil Kyshtobayev, "Uranium Waste In Kyrgyzstan," Slovo Kyrgyzstana, 1 July 1994; in Environmental Policy Review, Winter 1994, Vol. 8, No. 2, p. 15.]
Eight radioactive waste dumps similar to those in Kadzhi-Say are located near apartment blocks in the village of Shekaftar.
Sources:
[1] Daniil Kyshtobayev, "Uranium Waste In Kyrgyzstan," Slovo Kyrgyzstana, 1 July 1994; in Environmental Policy Review, Winter 1994, Vol. 8, No. 2, p. 15.
[2] "Radioaktivnyye tochki na karte Kirgizii," Delovoy mir, 3 June 1997.{Updated 2/16/01 KB)
A tailings site is located near the village of Terek-Say in the Chatkal mountain range. Heavy rains cause toxic substances to filter into the ground at this site.
[Daniil Kyshtobayev, "Uranium Waste In Kyrgyzstan," Slovo Kyrgyzstana, 1 July 1994; in Environmental Policy Review, Winter 1994, Vol. 8, No. 2, p. 15.]
 |
| |
Updated August 2005 |
|
|
