S I T E   D O S S I E R

Mailuu-Suu, Kyrgyzstan

 Site Summary
 Site Progress


Site Summary
Mailuu-Suu, in the mountainous and earthquake-prone Central Asian republic of Kyrgyz, is suffering from a decades-old legacy of the Soviet nuclear program: leaking uranium dump sites that threaten the health and safety of the entire region.

From 1946 and 1967, the former USSR mined the heavy metal near this town. In fact, it is said that the first Soviet nuclear bomb was made from Mailuu-Suu uranium. Today, there is almost two million cubic meters of radioactive waste buried in holes or lying about heaped in dumps near the town of 23,000. The waste was buried in 23 sites and dumped above ground in 13 locations around the old mine’s property. Some of these sites have already been damaged by earthquakes and floods and are extremely fragile.

The Kyrgyz Republic is mountainous and prone to serious earthquakes, flooding and landslides. Scientists and environmentalists fear that the uranium tailings will wash into a nearby river and create an ecological disaster, poisoning the densely populated and agriculturally important Ferghana.

According to testing in 2003 by the Belgian Nuclear Research Centre, background radiation level in Mailuu-Suu was between 8.76 and 10.5 millisievert per year (around 1 rem/year). The typical background radiation level in North America is about 3 mSv/y, while the standard for occupational exposure is 50 mSv/y (5 rem/year). A 1999 study (pg. 39) conducted by the Institute of Oncology and Radioecology showed that twice as many residents suffered from some form of cancer than in the rest of the country.

Concerns about the dumps have convinced many residents to pack up and leave home. According to published news reports, a third of the residents have moved, reducing the population to around 23,000 from 35,000 ten years ago. Though the radiation levels of the sites in town are low, the fear is that a natural disaster will expose the highly radioactive cores.


Site Progress
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe has estimated that a clean-up project in Mailuu-Suu would cost more than $15 million. In 2004, the World Bank is expected to approve a $6.9 million grant to the Kyrgyz Republic to start addressing Mailuu-Suu and similar sites. Plus, the Japanese government approved a $1.95 million grant.