Uzbekistan Uranium legacy remediation discussions

July 30, 2020

Image: UNDP Uzbekistan

29-30 July 2020, Tashkent – Our “Stakeholder engagement in Uranium legacy remediation in Central Asia. Phase II” project hosted a round-table discussions on the socio-economic development and legal aspects ensuring radiation safety of Uranium legacy sites (ULS) of Uzbekistan.

The events have been organized in cooperation with the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Uzbekistan, OSCE and European Union Delegations in Uzbekistan and served as a unified platform to establish dialogue between government agencies, local authorities, academia and international community on uranium legacy issues.

The event was aimed at discussing current status and prospects of reducing   negative impact of the uranium waste on people, livelihoods, and environment through raising awareness and supporting people-centred, gender sensitive, risk-informed solutions at the legacy sites at the level of local communities.

The round table participants have been introduced to the most topical socio-economic issues of ULS, overview of the radioecological situation of the uranium heritage of Uzbekistan and recommendations of improving legal framework for ensuring radiation safety and the rights of citizens to participate in the local management of uranium tailings.

Round Table resulted in the elaboration of several proposals and recommendations from the participants:

- Organization of a joint visit of the round table participants to the ULS to get acquainted with the current measures carried out within the framework of the state bodies duties in radiation safety and the framework of the project, after releasing of travel restrictions.

- Further multilateral cooperation within the framework of the project and discussion of proposals for its implementation.

EU funded “Stakeholder engagement in Uranium legacy remediation in Central Asia. Phase II” project is implemented by the UNDP Uzbekistan jointly with the OSCE and the Ministry of Emergency Situation of Uzbekistan and aims to Increase understanding of local decision-makers and community members about uranium waste risk and its impact on people, livelihoods, and environment, reduce uranium legacy risk in target communities through gender sensitive social economic development projects and etc.