Toxic Towns In Kyrgyzstan Battling Radioactive Danger

Muhammad Irfan Published November 12, 2024 | 01:10 PM

MINKUSH, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 12th Nov, 2024) In a mask and a hazmat suit, Ermek Murataliyev drives a truck filled with Soviet-era radioactive waste along the winding mountain roads of Kyrgyzstan.

His is a hazardous mission: two such trucks crashed into ravines over the summer.

Drivers in this former Soviet Central Asian state are forbidden to stop until they reach their final destination -- a storage zone where the waste will be buried under thick layers of compacted clay and rock.

Murataliyev had to undergo a medical inspection and have regular health checks to get the job.

"I have been trained on how to keep myself safe," he said.

Kyrgyz authorities say there are now six million cubic metres of radioactive waste in 30 sites such as Min-Kush, which require complex and costly disposal measures.