Siberian floods raise fears of uranium contamination in Tobol River

In the Kurgan region in the southwestern part of Siberia, floodwaters are inundating uranium deposits exploited by the Russian conglomerate Rosatom; uranium could have leaked into the Tobol River - reported by the Russian opposition Service Agency. Rosatom has already stated this matter.

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 with floodwater. That is where the mentioned "Dobrovolye" deposit is located.

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 be underwater.

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 with drinking water leads to internal radiation, which is much more dangerous than external. Of course, the water of the Tobol River will dilute the solution significantly, and the concentrations will not exceed any regulations. But still (...) someone will get sick. It's absolutely inevitable," Ozharovsky believes.

Rosatom's subsidiaries, which mine uranium in the Kurgan region, assured that they are monitoring the situation and that the water will not inundate the wells. Rosatom's press service reported on April 20 at 9 AM GMT that the flood had bypassed the uranium wells. However, the state corporation's statements are contradicted by recordings, claims the Agency portal.

In a statement dated April 23 at 9 AM GMT, Rosatom stated that "information about the flooding of uranium boreholes in the Dobrovolye deposits in the Kurgan region is deliberate misinformation."

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

Many localities were flooded, including cities with several hundred thousand inhabitants, such as Orsk in Russia or 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.