The Prime Minister of Russia, Mikhail Mishustin, has approved a project for a Russian-Kyrgyz intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in rehabilitating territories in Kyrgyzstan affected by uranium mining and ore processing. The corresponding document has been published on the official portal of legal acts.
The agreement aims to assist in ensuring the safety of the population residing in areas where waste from former uranium mining and ore processing facilities in the Kyrgyz Republic is located, as well as reducing the risk of emergencies at these sites.
It is noted that the state corporation "Rosatom" will be responsible for the rehabilitation of contaminated areas in Kyrgyzstan. All work will be carried out at the expense of the Russian side.
Kyrgyzstan, in turn, commits to exempting from taxes and other payments the supply of goods and the provision of services carried out within the framework of the agreement. Russia, through Rosatom and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will negotiate with Kyrgyzstan and sign the agreement on behalf of Russia.
Currently, Kyrgyzstan has 92 burial sites containing toxic and radioactive substances, with 36 of them located in Mailuu-Suu. Industrial uranium mining began here in 1946 and continued until 1968. During this time, uranium ore from Europe and China was also processed here. As a result, the small town with a population of 24,000 is now surrounded by approximately 3 million cubic meters of uranium waste.
