Chairman of the Russian Government Mikhail Mishustin approved a draft Russian-Kyrgyz intergovernmental agreement on cooperation in the rehabilitation of territories of the Kyrgyz Republic affected by uranium mining and mining industries. The corresponding document was posted on the official portal of legal acts.
«The goals of this agreement are to help ensure the safety of the population living in areas where waste from former uranium and mining industries of the Kyrgyz Republic is disposed, and to reduce the risk of emergency situations at the sites of the country’s former uranium mining and mining industries,» the statement says.
It is noted that Rosatom state corporation will deal with the rehabilitation of contaminated territories of the Kyrgyz Republic. All work will be carried out at the expense of the Russian side.
Kyrgyzstan, in turn, undertakes to exempt from taxes and other payments the supply of goods and the performance of work and services carried out under the agreement, as well as the income of non-resident Russian organizations and individuals engaged in work on the rehabilitation of territories.
Rosatom was instructed, together with the Russian Foreign Ministry, to conduct negotiations with the Kyrgyz Republic and sign this agreement on behalf of Russia.
There are 92 burial sites of toxic and radioactive substances in Kyrgyzstan to date. Of these, 36 are located in Mailuu-Suu. Industrial uranium mining there began in 1946 and continued until 1968. All this time, uranium ore from Europe and China was also processed there. As a result, the small town of 24,000 people is now surrounded by approximately 3 million cubic meters of uranium waste.
