NewsSiberian floods may have unleashed Uranium into Tobol River, Rosatom Disputes claims

Siberian floods may have unleashed Uranium into Tobol River, Rosatom Disputes claims

In the Kurgan region in the southwestern part of Siberia, floodwaters are inundating uranium deposits exploited by the Russian conglomerate Rosatom, with concerns that uranium could have leaked into the Tobol River, as reported by the Russian opposition Service Agency. Rosatom has stated the situation.

Catastrophe in Russia. Radioactive mud might have reached the river.

Images source: © TG

MCZ

7:38 AM EDT, April 23, 2024

Floodwaters have inundated old uranium wells of the "Dobrovolye" deposit in the Zverinogolovskoye district, where Rosatom conducts mining.

The Foundation for Environmental and Population Welfare Control published a video showing that the area between the villages of Trud, Znanie, and Zverinogolovskoye is flooded. This area includes the "Dobrovolye" deposit.

Ecologists from the Foundation claim that the flood washed radioactive sludge into the Tobol, which had accumulated in the groundwater of the exploited deposits. Sergei Yeryomin, head of the Foundation, expressed concern that the old well, which has been "leaking for 35 years," might now be underwater.

Rosatom issues a statement

Andrei Ozharovsky, an expert from the Radioactive Waste Safety program of the Russian Socio-Ecological Union, quoted by the Agency, stated that when old mines are flooded, water carries with it soluble uranium salts into the Tobol. This can lead to an increase in radiation-induced diseases.

"Uranium entering the human body through drinking water leads to internal radiation, which is much more dangerous than external. Although the water in the Tobol River will significantly dilute the solution, and the concentrations should not exceed regulations, it's absolutely inevitable that someone will get sick," believes Ozharovsky.

Rosatom's subsidiaries, which mine uranium in the Kurgan region, assured us they are monitoring the situation and that the water will not inundate the wells. Rosatom's press service reported on April 20 that the flood had bypassed the uranium wells. However, the state corporation's statements are contradicted by recordings, claims the Agency portal.

On April 23, Rosatom stated that "information about the flooding of uranium boreholes in the Dobrovolye deposits in the Kurgan region is deliberate misinformation."

Cataclysm in Russia

The southern regions of Russian Siberia, as well as northern Kazakhstan, have been struggling with flooding for several weeks. In Russia, the catastrophe has mainly affected the Kurgan, Tyumen, and Orenburg regions, where at least five people died; in Kazakhstan, the death toll is officially seven.

Many localities were flooded, including cities with several hundred thousand inhabitants, like Orsk in Russia and Petropavl in Kazakhstan. According to experts, the flood in the Orenburg region is the largest since records began, and in Kazakhstan, it's the biggest in at least 80 years.