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OSCE meeting focuses on acute danger from nuclear waste in Kyrgyzstan
BISHKEK 17 April 2003
BISHKEK, 17 April 2003 - A three-day international scientific meeting in Kyrgyzstan aims at assessing technical problems posed by radioactive waste dumps at Mailuu-Suu in the country's south, which threaten the whole region with radioactive pollution.
Prime Minister Nikolai Tanaev and the Director of the OSCE Conflict Prevention Centre, Lamberto Zannier, opened the event yesterday, which is being held in Bishkek and includes an assessment trip to Mailuu-Suu itself. The meeting has been organized by the OSCE Centre in Bishkek, in co-operation with the Kyrgyz Ministry of Ecology and Emergencies and the Regional Environmental Centre for Central Asia (CAREC).
"Kyrgyzstan has been left alone with the problem of radioactive waste in the Mailuu-Suu region after the collapse of the Soviet Union," said the Prime Minister in his opening speech. "We have to count on the help of all neighbouring countries and Russia for the solution of this problem, as Kyrgyzstan is not in a position to achieve the ecological security of the whole region on its own."
Ambassador Zannier said that the rehabilitation of the Mailuu-Suu radioactive waste dump was a security issue and therefore a concern for the entire OSCE area. "It is a clear example of how far an environmental security-related topic is relevant for the stability of a whole region such as Central Asia," he said. "This calls for a prompt, co-ordinated cross-border response. In addressing this issue, the OSCE clearly shows its dedication to act according to its principle of taking a comprehensive approach to security, including measures related to economy and ecology."
The Mailuu-Suu uranium mines had been exploited by the Soviet authorities from 1946 to 1967. Twenty-three dumps on the territory of the former mine, containing 1.9 million m3 of radioactive waste, were conserved between 1966 and 1973 according to the standards of the time. Now they are in acute danger of being washed into and contaminating the Syr Darya river basin.
Ambassador Aydin Idil, Head of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek confirmed this and called for a joint effort. "The dumps in Mailuu-Suu represent a serious danger not only for Kyrgyzstan, but for the whole Fergana valley, which is the agriculturally richest and most populated area of Central Asia, and most of downstream Uzbekistan until the Aral Sea," he said.
A number of assessment missions have been carried out so far, involving institutions like the World Bank, the EU and the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre. The aim of this assessment meeting is to form a technical and tactical task force, to sum up and process expertise and knowledge and to draw operative conclusions. Intensive discussions involve more than 60 regional and international experts in working groups.
The Head of the Kyrgyz Delegation to the OSCE in Vienna, Ambassador Alikbek Djekshenkulov, recalled that the OSCE "has proved its ability to solve conflict situations on several occasions in the past. Now it is confronted with new challenges in the field of ecology." He also emphasized the need for close co-operation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, which Kyrgyzstan is about to join.
Prime Minister Nikolai Tanaev and the Director of the OSCE Conflict Prevention Centre, Lamberto Zannier, opened the event yesterday, which is being held in Bishkek and includes an assessment trip to Mailuu-Suu itself. The meeting has been organized by the OSCE Centre in Bishkek, in co-operation with the Kyrgyz Ministry of Ecology and Emergencies and the Regional Environmental Centre for Central Asia (CAREC).
"Kyrgyzstan has been left alone with the problem of radioactive waste in the Mailuu-Suu region after the collapse of the Soviet Union," said the Prime Minister in his opening speech. "We have to count on the help of all neighbouring countries and Russia for the solution of this problem, as Kyrgyzstan is not in a position to achieve the ecological security of the whole region on its own."
Ambassador Zannier said that the rehabilitation of the Mailuu-Suu radioactive waste dump was a security issue and therefore a concern for the entire OSCE area. "It is a clear example of how far an environmental security-related topic is relevant for the stability of a whole region such as Central Asia," he said. "This calls for a prompt, co-ordinated cross-border response. In addressing this issue, the OSCE clearly shows its dedication to act according to its principle of taking a comprehensive approach to security, including measures related to economy and ecology."
The Mailuu-Suu uranium mines had been exploited by the Soviet authorities from 1946 to 1967. Twenty-three dumps on the territory of the former mine, containing 1.9 million m3 of radioactive waste, were conserved between 1966 and 1973 according to the standards of the time. Now they are in acute danger of being washed into and contaminating the Syr Darya river basin.
Ambassador Aydin Idil, Head of the OSCE Centre in Bishkek confirmed this and called for a joint effort. "The dumps in Mailuu-Suu represent a serious danger not only for Kyrgyzstan, but for the whole Fergana valley, which is the agriculturally richest and most populated area of Central Asia, and most of downstream Uzbekistan until the Aral Sea," he said.
A number of assessment missions have been carried out so far, involving institutions like the World Bank, the EU and the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre. The aim of this assessment meeting is to form a technical and tactical task force, to sum up and process expertise and knowledge and to draw operative conclusions. Intensive discussions involve more than 60 regional and international experts in working groups.
The Head of the Kyrgyz Delegation to the OSCE in Vienna, Ambassador Alikbek Djekshenkulov, recalled that the OSCE "has proved its ability to solve conflict situations on several occasions in the past. Now it is confronted with new challenges in the field of ecology." He also emphasized the need for close co-operation with the International Atomic Energy Agency, which Kyrgyzstan is about to join.