Mayluu-Suu (Kyrgyz: Майлуу-Суу, Russian: Майли-СайMayli-Say)[1] is a mining town in the Jalal-Abad Region of southern Kyrgyzstan. It is a city of regional significance, not part of a district.[2] Its area is 120 square kilometres (46 sq mi),[3] and its resident population was 25,892 in 2021.[4] It has been economically depressed since the fall of the Soviet Union. From 1946 to 1968 the Zapadnyi Mining and Chemical Combine in Mayluu-Suu mined and processed more than 10,000 short tons (9,100 t) of uranium ore for the Soviet nuclear program.[5] Uranium mining and processing is no longer economical, leaving much of the local population of about 20,000 without meaningful work.[6] The town was classified as one of the Soviet government's secret cities, officially known only as "Mailbox 200".[7] Mayluu-Suu consists of the town proper, the urban-type settlementKök-Tash and the villages Sary-Bee, Kögoy and Kara-Jygach.[2]
The USSR left 23 unstable uraniumtailings pits on the tectonically unstable hillside above the town.[8] A breached tailings dam in April 1958 released 600,000 cubic metres (21,000,000 cu ft) of radioactive tailings into the river Mayluu-Suu.[9] 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.[10] Mayluu-Suu was found to be one of the 10 most polluted sites in the world in a study published in 2006 by the Blacksmith Institute.[11]
The World Bank approved a US$5 million grant to reclaim the tailings pits in 2004,[10] and approved an additional $1 million grant for the project in 2011.[12] However, grave threats still persist.[13]
^Djenchuraev, N. Current environmental issues associated with mining wastes in Kyrgyzstan. Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy of Central European University, Budapest, 1999.
