Mailuu-Suu (, ''Mayli-Say'') is a mining town in the

Jalal-Abad Region Jalal-Abad (; ) is a region (''oblast, oblus'') of Kyrgyzstan. Its capital is the city of the same name, Jalal-Abad. It is surrounded by (clockwise from the north) Talas Region, Chüy Region, Naryn Region, Osh Region, and Uzbekistan. Jalal-Abad ...

of southern

Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir Mountains, Pamir mountain ranges. Bishkek is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Kyrgyzstan, largest city. Kyrgyz ...

. It is a city of regional significance, not part of a district. Its area is , and its resident population was 25,892 in 2021. It has been economically depressed since the fall of the Soviet Union. From 1946 to 1968 the Zapadnyi Mining and Chemical Combine in Mailuu-Suu mined and processed more than of uranium ore for the Soviet nuclear program. Uranium mining and processing is no longer economical, leaving much of the local population of about 20,000 without meaningful work. The town was classified as one of the Soviet government's secret cities, officially known only as "Mailbox 200". Mailuu-Suu consists of the town proper, the

urban-type settlement Urban-type settlement, abbreviated: ; , abbreviated: ; ; ; ; . is an official designation for lesser urbanized settlements, used in several Central and Eastern Europe, Central and Eastern European countries. The term was primarily used in the So ...

Kök-Tash and the villages Sary-Bee, Kögoy and Kara-Jygach.

Population

Uranium mills

Uranium was initially found in the area in 1933, and by the early 1950s, Mailuu-Suu had produced 10,000 tonnes of uranium oxide. The USSR left 23 unstable

uranium Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...

tailings In mining, tailings or tails are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction (gangue) of an ore. Tailings are different from overburden, which is the waste rock or other material ...

pits on the

tectonic Tectonics ( via Latin ) are the processes that result in the structure and properties of the Earth's crust and its evolution through time. The field of ''planetary tectonics'' extends the concept to other planets and moons. These processes ...

ally unstable hillside above the town. Unsecured uranium tailings on unstable slopes near Mailuu-Suu pose major health and environmental risks due to landslide threats. The site heavily polluted rivers and farmland, severely affecting the health and economy of communities in both Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. A breached tailings dam in April 1958 released of radioactive tailings into the river Mailuu-Suu. In 1994, a landslide blocked the river, which flowed over its banks and flooded another waste reservoir. A flood caused by a mudslide nearly submerged a tailings pit in 2002. Mailuu-Suu is most ecologically hazardous region in

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

, and faces severe environmental challenges. Ranked by the Blacksmith Institute in 2006 as one of the 10 most polluted cities globally, its crisis stems from uranium waste left by decades of mining. In 2014, the Institute reported that adolescents had elevated cancer rates and weakened immune systems. The

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

approved a

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

5 million grant to reclaim the tailings pits in 2004, and approved an additional $1 million grant for the project in 2011. However, grave threats still persist.

References

External links

Webpage of Blacksmith Institute about Mailuu-Suu, archived from the original

Latest report on Pure Earth (formerly Blacksmith Institute), accessed 2021-02-19
{{Cities in Jalal-Abad Region Populated places in Jalal-Abad Region Uranium mines in the Soviet Union Mines in Kyrgyzstan Radioactively contaminated areas