Nuclear-waste dams threaten fertile Central Asia heartland
STORY: There is a vast amount of nuclear waste in these scenic hills in Kyrgyzstan.
But studies say dams containing the millions of gallons of uranium mine tailings here, near the town of Mailuu-Suu, are unstable.
The waste is close to a river system above a fertile valley in Central Asia.
And the area is prone to earthquakes.
Some predict a possible Chernobyl-scale disaster if the dams give out.
"The most dangerous thing here is a landslide from the opposite (slope)," says Islambek Altumyshev, an engineer with a local radiology lab.
The area near the town of Mailuu-Suu was one of the world’s biggest uranium ore dumps, developed by the Soviet Union between the 1940s and 60s.
The dams currently hold about 185 million gallons of tailings - or about 280 Olympic-size swimming pools.
A landslide in 2017 made the dams unstable.
Another one - or an earthquake - could spell disaster.
If the dams give way, contaminated water could flow into the river... and into the Fergana valley.
It stretches across areas in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, home to about 16 million people, many of whom cultivate various crops.
Studies at a Soviet-era radioactive waste disposal facility suggest millions of people could be displaced in the event of a disaster.
The studies are part of a project by the European Commission and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
They show the waste cannot be safely contained where it is and has got to be moved away from the river's banks.
Aibek Kozibaev, with the country’s tailings management agency, explains the scope:
"Within the frameworks of this project 16 tailing dumps are supposed to re-cultivated. Four of the tailing dumps are going to be moved to safe locations."
It could cost over $26 million to move the waste from two unsafe locations to one further away from the river.
At his Kyrgyzstan orchard, resident Toktobek Berdibekov says that can’t happen soon enough.
"The most important thing for us to get rid of the tailing dump, the one over the corner. It is dangerous without any doubt,” he says.
