Publication Name

Environment and Security

Ferghana

Osh

Khujand

disastrous for the country

Although perceptions may

not reflect reality the actions taken in response to those

perceptions will have real consequences

To continue with uranium mining, tailing dams at

Mailuu-

Suu

(Kyrgyzstan),

Shekaftar and Sumsar

(Kyrgyzstan)

, at

the Charkesar mine (in Uzbekistan), and in the complex

in around

Khujand (Chkalovsk, Adrasman and Taboshar)

in Tajikistan’s Sogd province have traditionally been the

focus of concern. Many tailing dumps, as well as mud

storage areas, were built directly on the flood plains of

rivers. In some cases protection dams were washed away

and radionuclides and heavy metals entered the rivers and

reservoirs. (For example there are signs of high radioactivity

levels in reeds in the Kairakkum reservoir

.) Landslides may

push the contents of dumps into rivers. In Adrasman and

Chkalovsk open tailing dumps are exposed to wind and

water erosion, and to floods and landslides. Field visits to

tailing ponds by local and international experts organized

by ENVSEC have confirmed the low level of protection with

respect to continuous as well as accidental pollution.

The Kyrgyz government has done a great deal to draw

the international community’s attention to the problems of

Mailuu Suu and has managed to obtain World Bank funding

to carry out feasibility studies and mitigation work on-site.

ENVSEC CASE STUDY

Radioactive waste in Taboshar, Tajikistan

The Taboshar uranium mining site stands on the southern

edge of the Kuramin Mountains, close to the Uzbek-Tajik

border. Having worked from 1949 to 1965, it is now a huge

assembly of non-operational uranium ore extraction and

production facilities and tailings spread over 400 hectares.

The town of Taboshar, with its 12,000 inhabitants, is only a

few kilometres away.

The site consists of the non-rehabilitated open mine, disman-

tled production buildings and three tailings sites storing 10

m tonnes of low grade processed uranium ore. Tailings are

exposed to wind and water erosion and easily accessible to

people and grazing animals. A school and a few farms stand

in the middle of the former mining area.

The average radiation background around and on the top

tailings is 10 times the normal background value (90 µR/h

to 120 µR/h).

There are many signs of scavenging for metal and removal of

tailing materials for construction purposes. Gardens and farm-

ing land are located close to the radioactive tailing pile, and a

local irrigation canal literally crosses the foothills of the tailing site

prior to being used by farmers and local people downstream.

Lack of awareness and poverty drives people to use this

contaminated area. Moreover easy access and grazing of

domestic (sheep, cows) and wild (rodents) animals may

introduce radioactive pollutants and heavy metals into the

food chain and affect humans and the environment.

Radioactive particles from badly managed abandoned

sites are exposed to the air and can be transported by

the strong winds prevalent in this area to densely popu-

lated areas. Water erosion by heavy rainfall and leaching

of materials to groundwater carries radioactive pol-

lutants into irrigation systems and rivers.

Source: ENVSEC field visits – Uranium Mining and Processing Track

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