KYRGYZSTAN: SOVIET-ERA BOOM TOWN LITERALLY BEING SOLD FOR SCRAP
EURASIANET David Trilling 9/22/09“…………The town Min Kush bore another, more troubled, legacy: it was one of the Soviet Union’s leading sources of uranium. Workers were paid well in part so that they would keep secrets and ignore the health hazards, including the high rates of cancer experienced by miners…………….
The harmful side of the town’s mining past continues to be felt today. Uranium tailings, a radioactive byproduct, are often found underground, in side valleys along streams. “Uranium tailings are dangerous due to the high risk of landslides in this area. The tailings are located right near the rivers. If all of that were to get washed into the Naryn River, which flows into the Syr Darya [and Uzbekistan], it might cause a regional catastrophe,” said Mayor Toktobubu Madieva
EurasiaNet Eurasia Insight – Kyrgyzstan: Soviet-Era Boom Town Literally Being Sold for Scrap
Tags: antinuclear, nuclear, radioactive wastes, uranium, wastes
