BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, September 20. Russian Rosatom (State Nuclear Energy Corporation) plans to begin the elimination of uranium legacy at an industrial complex in Kadji-Sai village of Kyrgyzstan's Issyk-Kul region, as well as at mine dumps in the Osh and Jalal-Abad regions, Trend reports via the corporation.
"PDC UGR" (Pilot and Demonstration Center for Decommissioning of Uranium-Graphite Nuclear Reactors) JSC, a subsidiary of Rosatom's Environmental Solutions division, has signed a state contract to develop design and cost documentation for the rehabilitation of these sites in Kyrgyzstan.
The work will be backed to the hilt by Russian resources.
Director of State Policy on Radioactive Waste, Spent Nuclear Fuel, and Decommissioning of Nuclear and Radiologically Hazardous Facilities at Rosatom Vasily Tinin noted that after the USSR collapse, most of the storage facilities in Kyrgyzstan fell into disrepair and posed a threat to the environment.
"Over the past seven years, Rosatom has rehabilitated several tailings storage facilities. By the end of this year, we plan to complete the most technically complex project at the Tuyuk-Suu tailings site in the village of Min-Kush, where there was a high risk of radioactive substances entering the environment due to a landslide threat. Now, that danger is no longer present," he explained.
Rosatom is involved in land rehabilitation in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan as part of the 2012 Intergovernmental Target Program (ITP) "Reclamation of Territories Affected by Uranium Mining Operations."
This program will wrap up in 2024. Efforts to get the ball rolling on making sites safe will keep chugging along in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan thanks to fresh intergovernmental agreements.
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