World Bank Will Double Pledge To Clean Kyrgyzstan Nuclear Waste Sites

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BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan — "The World Bank is pledging to nearly double aid to Kyrgyzstan to reduce the danger from radioactive waste sites that could threaten Central Asia's densely populated Fergana Valley, officials said Thursday.

Kyrgyzstan inherited several radioactive dumps from the Soviet nuclear industry, and uranium waste sites in the southern town of Mayluu-Suu have the potential to contaminate water resources in the Fergana Valley, which is shared by two other former Soviet republics.

In November, the World Bank pledged US$5 million for ecological projects, part of which was supposed to be used to rehabilitate sites in Mayluu-Suu. But the World Bank and Kyrgyz government have now agreed to increase funding for rehabilitation projects to US$11.8 million, said Emil Akmatov, spokesman for the Emergencies Ministry. The Finance Ministry said Kyrgyzstan was pledging US$2 million of that amount.

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Akmatov said landslides could cause radioactive dumps at Mayluu-Suu to leak into a river that runs into the Uzbek part of the Fergana Valley if no action was taken to prevent them. He called the situation there "critical." Kyrgyzstan is an impoverished ex-Soviet republic that has appealed to the international community for help in solving ecological problems and to deal with the consequences of natural disasters that have shaken the country in recent years."

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http://www.enn.com/news/2004-04-30/s_23350.asp