Dams that hold them back Large amounts of uranium mine tailings The fertile Ferghana Valley in Central Asia is unstable and could cause a Chernobyl-like nuclear disaster if they collapse, research reveals.
In the worst-case scenario, the area would become uninhabitable and large numbers of people – even millions – would be forced to relocate.
Dams that hold them back Approximately 700,000 cubic meters of waste Uranium mines in Kyrgyzstan became unreliable after the 2017 landslide.
One more thing Landslide or earthquakeWaste could be sent into a system of rivers used to irrigate farmland in the country, but studies of Soviet-era radioactive waste disposal facilities in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan show that
The studies, which are part of a project by the European Commission and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to improve facilities, show that waste types cannot be safely stored in facilities and must be disposed of. Its banks are the Maili-Su river.
The Ferghana ValleyThe polluted water ends up in the most densely populated region of Central Asia, home to 16 million people, many of whom work. Cultivation of cotton, rice, cereals, fruits and vegetables.
“If the river overflows in the event of a landslide, the waste from the two mine dams will enter the water,” said Gulshar Abdullayeva, director of Maili-Su's Radioactive Elements Laboratory. “The environmental disaster will be almost comparable to Chernobyl.”
Studies have shown that the waste in these dams is in liquid form and is therefore very dangerous and will flow into the river in the event of a strong earthquake, said Sebastian Hess, an engineer at the German company Geos, which has signed the contract. with the Government of Kyrgyzstan.
“It could be a terrible disaster,” he said, “and this water is used to irrigate agricultural land, which means agricultural products could be contaminated.”
