Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Uzbekistan has 4 million tons of radioactive waste. This was announced at a press conference with the participation of officials of the State Committee for Industrial Safety.

As a result of 32 inspections and 189 control and preventive works carried out by the Department of Radiation and Nuclear Safety in 2021, 1920 deficiencies were identified. To date, the elimination of these shortcomings has been ensured. 41 employees were brought to administrative responsibility for violating the requirements of radiation and nuclear safety at controlled facilities; fines in the amount of 21 million soums were charged to the republican budget.

About 26 licenses and 142 permits were issued for the right to work in the field of sources of ionizing radiation.

Also important is the issue of radioactive waste that was accumulated as a result of the activities of uranium deposits during the Soviet Union. This problem exists not only in our country, but also in other countries of Central Asia: in Kazakhstan - 240 million tons, in Kyrgyzstan - 132 million tons, in Tajikistan - 42 million tons, and in Uzbekistan - 4 million tons of radioactive waste.

With the sponsorship of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Union and a number of countries, it was decided to allocate the first grant in the amount of 2 million euros in order to improve the environmental health of the territories where this waste is located.

During the period of cooperation with the IAEA (27 years), our country has received assistance totaling 22.6 million euros, and the relevant instruments and equipment have been delivered and put into operation.

“The republic has adopted a special program for environmental monitoring. According to the program, the necessary monitoring work is carried out in cooperation with the committees of ecology and geology. The monitoring results show that in recent years there are no regions in Uzbekistan where the level of radiation exceeds the norm,” said Sardorbek Yakubbekov, Head of the Department of Radiation and Nuclear Safety.