The State Industrial Safety Committee and the Department of Radiation and Nuclear Safety, which is part of it, at a press conference, announced the amount of radioactive waste accumulated in Uzbekistan during the development of uranium deposits during the Soviet times.

Uzbekistan is storing 4 million tons of radioactive waste, which, according to the committee, is significantly less than in other Central Asian countries: in Kazakhstan - 240 million tons, in Kyrgyzstan - 132 million, in Tajikistan - 42 million.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Union and a number of donor countries provided a 2 million-euro grant this year for the environmental improvement of the territories where this waste is located. It will be contributed for environmental remediation (restoring the original soil, water or air parameters) of the former uranium mining sites at the Yangiabad and Charkesar sites located in the mountains east of Tashkent.

“The country has adopted a special program for environmental monitoring. The monitoring results show that in recent years there is no province in Uzbekistan where the level of radiation exceeds the norm,” said the head of the department, Sardorbek Yakubbekov.

During the Soviet era, uranium mining in Central Asia lasted for over 50 years, and uranium ore was imported for processing from other countries. Large volumes of radioactive materials were placed in dumps and tailings. By 1995, most of the uranium mining facilities were closed, but neither before nor after the closure of mines and ore dressing enterprises, their environmental remediation was virtually not performed.

In March 2017, the EBRD and the government of Uzbekistan signed an agreement to conduct operations under an Environmental Remediation Account (ERA) for Central Asia in Uzbekistan. The document provides for the participation of Uzbekistan in the program of reclamation of uranium facilities of the EBRD fund for environmental restoration in Central Asia.