On October 5, 2022, radiation monitoring was carried out at the Too-Moyun section of the Kara-Tash ayil okmotu of the Nookat district of the Osh region.

This event was organized by the Aarhus Center in Osh together with the Osh-Jalal-Abad Territorial Department of the Ministry of Natural Resources, Ecology and Technical Supervision (MNRETS) of the Kyrgyz Republic as part of the OSCE Program Office in Bishkek project “Promotion of a green economy and environmental management”.

This monitoring was attended by the Chief Inspector of the Osh-Jalal-Abad Territorial Department of the Ministry of Energy and Science of the Kyrgyz Republic for the Nookat District Zh. land resources of the Kara-Tash ayil okmotu T. Mamatkulov and employees of the Aarhus Center.

Exploration and mining of uranium ore have been carried out since 1904. The local population has long mined copper here. Industrial mining of radium ore was organized in 1922. The reserves of the deposit were estimated at 15-20 grams of radium, 60 tons of uranium, 120 tons of copper. The initial productivity of the mine is 500 tons of ore per year. The development of the deposit was carried out underground and was stopped due to the abundance of groundwater at a depth of 220 meters. (Source; Too-Moyun Radium Mine in the South of Kyrgyzstan. History and Present. Authors Dzhusmamatov A.M., Omurzakov M.T., Karavashkin I.I.)

During the monitoring, measurements of the gamma background were carried out with the devices of the Dosimeter-Radiometer MKS-AT6130 and Teletektor 6112M. On the destroyed administrative and industrial buildings, 5 readings of the background radiation range from 0.03 μS/h. up to 0.21 μS / hour. In mining dumps 0.13-0.14 µS/h. And in adit No. 1 and No. 2 from 0.03 to 0.07 µS/h. From adit No. 1, the flow of mine water enters the Aravan-Sai River. In adit No. 3, the radiation background reaches from 0.21 µS/h to 2.15 µS/h.

The Agency for Tailings Management of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Kyrgyz Republic has installed warning signs on radiation safety.

In connection with the use of pastures around this facility by residents of the village of Kara-Koktu, the participants of the monitoring proposed reclamation work, fencing of dangerous areas and conservation of industrial facilities.

Specialist of the Aarhus Center A. Zayyrbekov