Kyrgyz members of parliament have approved an agreement between Kyrgyzstan and Russia on funds for the remediation of sites contaminated with uranium tailings. The ratification corresponds to a previous deal by the Kyrgyz government and Russian state company Rosatom under the framework of a Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) program to rehabilitate territories affected by uranium production.
Kyrgyz Deputy Emergency Situations Minister Azamat Mambetov, speaking at the session of the Kyrgyz parliament, described the details of the agreement with Russia regarding the uranium tailings ponds.
“At our request, the Russian Federation will allocate an additional 2.141 million rubles ($23.1 million). According to the draft agreement submitted for approval, these funds will be used for work and delivery of equipment, [and] they are exempt from taxes. Five facilities in Kyrgyzstan will be rehabilitated,” Mambetov said.
According to the deputy minister, these are three tailing dumps left over from uranium mining in western Kyrgyzstan, and two tailing dumps in the south of the country. According to some sources, the first Soviet atomic bomb was filled with uranium mined in the south of Kyrgyzstan in the Batken region.
It should be noted that the tailings dumps in Chatkal district (western Kyrgyzstan) currently threaten the ecology of not only Kyrgyzstan, but also of neighboring Uzbekistan. The Chatkal River, which flows near the tailings dams, is a transboundary river that flows into one of Uzbekistan’s reservoirs — and from which Tashkent and the Tashkent region draw their drinking water.
Mr. Mambetov said that today the reclamation of uranium tailings sites in southern Issyk-Kul region and in Naryn region is almost completed. When the interstate program for reclamation of territories was drawn up in 2013, these tailings were considered the most problematic. According to Rosatom, 450,000 cubic meters of radioactive waste were concentrated in the Naryn region when work began. The work there is complicated by the fact that there is the risk of landslides in the area of the tailing dump. However, Russian specialists promise to fully complete the reclamation process by August 2024.
The volume of accumulated radioactive waste in the Issyk-Kul region is 150 thousand cubic meters. Uranium mining there was conducted from 1952 to 1966. After the mining was completed, the surface of the site was covered with a special layer of soil. But over time, the ground has been eroded by surface waters and the site began to pose a threat to the local environment once again. The works there should also be completed this year. Recall that Lake Issyk-Kul, located just a few hundred meters from the facility, is Kyrgyzstan’s main tourist attraction.
According to the Kyrgyz Ministry of Emergency Situations, there are 92 burial sites of toxic and radioactive substances in the country. Of these, 23 tailings sites contain uranium elements, while the remaining ones contain radioactive rock residues, heavy metals and cyanide. The total volume of poisonous and hazardous substances is 2.9 million cubic meters.
As reported by Rosatom, there are currently more than 40 large legacy nuclear sites dating back to the Soviet era in the states that are parties to the reclamation agreement — which include Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Russia.
