Radioecological assessment of uranium tails deposits (Sumsar, Shekaftar, Terek-Sai)

The article presents the results of radio ecological studies of the territories of uranium tailings in Kyrgyzstan (Sumsar, Shekaftar and Terek-Sai), as well as their current state and assessment of the radioactive contamination’s potential risks. The ore field of this region is characterized as an extremely complex structure and covers about 30 ore occurrences of lead and rare metals. Starting from the Precambrian period both applicative and disjunctive disturbances within its boundaries have been widely developing and being manifested many times throughout the history of geological development. Oxidized and sulfide ores have been developed within the deposit. Unfortunately, serious miscalculations were made. As result of natural disasters; such as earthquakes, landslides, mudflows, etc., several uranium tailing dumbs have been damaged. Day by day, the risk of destruction and the threat of radioactive contamination of the Kyrgyz Republic territory are increasing. There are eight tailing dumps on the territory of Shekaftar uranium natural-technogenic province, the total volume of which is 1194 thousand m3 of radioactive waste. There are 15 mountain dumps of substandard ore with an ore volume of 4585.6 thousand m3 hour, in local areas it exceeds 500 μR/h.