Speaker
Description
When our descendants see the desert into which we have turned the Earth, what excuse will they find for us?
Isaac Asimov. Martian Way
After Soviet Union collapse, Kyrgyzstan faced many challenges in the radioactive and hazardous wastes management issues. Since 1993 after becoming independent the Kyrgyzstan start deal with all problems which left the Soviet Union huge industries.
One of the main key player and main impact in the socio-economic development-is the mining industry.
According Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative reports about 44 % is inputs from mining industry.
That bring many aspects of security and environmental safety challenges: first comes environmental risk and chemical pollution, second is socio-economic dependence from the mining industry incomes, the third one and main that the remediation policy after all mining works still dependent from the Soviet Union legacy and needs urgent changes for sustainable and safe future.
The case of the Kyrgyz Republic shows that the current situation of post-mining land remediation policies and hazardous wastes in the Kyrgyz Republic needs revision and updates, especially needs revision in chemical calculations, maximum permissible rates and doses. Also, the lack of information about waste management trends, new technologies and innovations bring some difficulty to decide and provide expertise in mining safety issues.
New remediation policy and clear responsibilities in radioactive and hazardous wastes management should be as an important part of safety industrial activities, which brings safety economic growth and prevent the chemical pollution and damage for local residents, not only for the Kyrgyz Republic, also for all Central Asian region.
Key words: Kyrgyzstan, remediation, radioactive and hazardous wastes, mining, safety, sustainable, policy, environment.
