KHUJAND, December 23, 2015, Asia-Plus – A new enterprise for recultivaiton of tailing dumps has been launched in the northern province of Sughd.
According to the industry department at the Qairoqqum mayor’s office, the enterprise is located in the Chorukh Dayron settlement, which is subordinate to Qairoqqum.
150 hectares were reportedly allotted in the settlement for construction of the limited liability company Shuhrat-2005, which will reprocess wastes from the former Leninabad Rare Metals Plant.
To-date, the enterprise has reportedly created 60 new jobs, and in the future, the number of new jobs created by Shuhrat-2005 will increase to more than 110.
We will recall that the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies of Tajikistan (MINT) last month in partnership with the European Commission (EC) started working with a Consortium led by G.E.O.S. (Germany) and involving German companies WISUTEC; WISMUT, GRS and Amec Foster Wheeler (UK) to develop a Feasibility Study and Environmental Impact Assessment for the remediation of the uranium mining and processing legacy sites at Degmay and Taboshar.
The project is funded by the European Union under the Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation and the overall budget is 2.4 million EUR. The project has duration of 24 months.
The project will be implemented in consecutive steps, including an analysis of the current legal and regulatory framework of Tajikistan, an investigation of the various mine wastes and mining facilities and their radioactive and non-radioactive contamination and the resulting risks, followed by the development of suitable remediation strategies and solutions that are adapted to the local conditions. The remediation solutions will be assessed with respect to their environmental impact and the improvement of the environmental and socio-economic situation after the works are finished.
The project is part of the overall environmental remediation strategy for the uranium legacy sites in Tajikistan and Central Asia. The first phase is the development of concrete and detailed environmental remediation plans for high priority uranium legacy sites. The second phase will be actual remediation works at selected legacy sites in Central Asia. These works are envisaged to be financed under the
EBRD multi-donor fund, Environmental Remediation Account for Central Asia.
The EC”s Instrument for Nuclear Safety Cooperation (INSC) is promoting nuclear safety culture, responsible safe management of nuclear waste and nuclear safeguards.
