Due to the flooding of the Tobol River, a uranium mine in the Russian Kurgan region was flooded, environmentalists fear that radioactive pollutants have entered the water of the river, reports the Russian fact-finding newspaper Agentstvo. Hvg first broke the news, stating that the mine is operated by a company owned by the Russian nuclear energy agency Rosatom.
The mine is located between the villages of Zverinogolovskoye, Trud and Znanije, explained Alexey Svarts, the former head of the local center of the deceased opposition politician Alexei Navalny, who before his political career dealt with the problems of uranium deposits in the region. The water of Tobol also supplies the surrounding villages with drinking water. However, environmentalists say the flooding caused radioactive sludge to enter the river after the water washed away pollutants that had accumulated in the wells. The Agentstvo writes that a 35-year-old leaking well was also flooded. Videos were also taken of the flooding, and according to the news, the water completely flooded the villages along the river.
According to Russian nuclear physicist Andrey Ozharovsky, polluted water is extremely harmful to human health. “Of course, Tobol’s water will greatly dilute the solution, but this will increase the level of pollution and someone will get sick. It is absolutely inevitable.”
Eco-activists in the region have been trying to ban uranium mining in the area for years, precisely because they fear that radioactive solution will enter the groundwater and the Tobol. Rosatom explained the protests as “radiation phobia”, which hinders the development of the region and the extraction of raw materials.
