Mailuu-Suu:Radio…aktiv leben
Mailuusuu ist eine Industriestadt im Süden Kirgisistans. Seit Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts wurden hier Radiobaryt-Vorkommen entdeckt. Zwischen 1946 und 1968 wurde in der Umgebung der Stadt Uran abgebaut.
Seit dem Zusammenbruch der Sowjetunion und dem Ende des Uranabbaus und der Uranweiterverarbeitung dort hat die Stadt schwere Zeiten erlebt: seit dem Ende der Uranindustrie gibt es für den Großteil der örtlichen Bevölkerung nicht mehr viel Arbeit. Das schlimmste Erbe aus der Sowjetzeit sind jedoch die vielen (insgesamt 36) nicht gesicherten Lager von Uranabfällen an den steilen und tektonisch instabilen Berghängen oberhalb der Stadt. Nach einer im Oktober 2006 veröffentlichten Studie des Blacksmith Instituts aus New York ist Mailuusuu damit eine der zehn am schlimmsten verseuchten Gegenden der Welt.
For a generation, Toko and his extended family have grown tomatoes, apples and strawberries along the Mailuu Suu River in southern Kyrgyzstan. Their little plot was a form of insurance, looked upon as a reliable food source that could help feed the family and produce some income amid the post-Soviet era’s economic uncertainty.
But for the past year a new sign across the muddy lane displays the fearsome international trefoil symbol for radioactivity: “Keep Out!” Former bounty turned into a wellspring of misery for Toko’s family. He and his children now suffer headaches and nausea, maladies caused by what they suspect to be contaminated products.
In March 2008, officials from Kyrgyzstan’s Emergencies Ministry began moving radioactive uranium waste from Soviet-era dumps – into the hills just above his home. “It gives us headaches; our eyes itch,” Toko says as he gestures across the road. Now he grows his fruits and vegetables in water potentially contaminated by the radioactive materials.
A few kilometers downstream from Toko’s house there are even more lethal radioactive deposits – known as tailings. They line the river and surround the former industrial town. Not too long ago, the area was a desirable place to live. Closed to outsiders for security reasons, factory bosses kept shops well stocked. It was a center of the Soviet uranium mining industry from 1948 to 1968. During those two decades, as much as 10,000 tons of refined form of uranium that can be used to produce nuclear energy or atomic weapons, was produced in Mailuu Suu. The first Soviet atomic weapon was made from this uranium. Communists tended to care about results, not the potential consequences of their decisions. Approximately 2 million cubic meters of uranium tailings were buried in the area. Many of the tailing sites and waste rock dumps are now poorly marked. Sheep graze on them. Water drains through the radioactive material and downstream into Uzbekistan and the Syr Darya, which winds its way through Central Asia’s most densely populated areas.
Mailuu Suu residents complain of goiter, anemia, cancer and early death. Radiation in some areas is 30 times normal levels. The rates of cancer in Mailuu Suu are the highest in Kyrgyzstan.
A lack of knowledge has bred a catalogue of pseudo-health mythology in the district. Some believe locals cannot leave, that their bodies have grown addicted to the radiation. While many residents wonder about the long-term health consequences of living here, most seem preoccupied more with ongoing economic hardships. Eurasianet, edited by Galina Toktalieva
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