INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
investigative news outlet Agentstvo reported Monday, sparking fears that radioactive and chemical pollution could seep into the Tobol
River.State nuclear agency Rosatom, whose subsidiary operates the mines at the Dobrovolnoye uranium deposit, denied that its mining
facilities were impacted by the flood.Agentsvo reported that the Dobrovolnoye deposit is located within the flood zone in Kurgan's
the uranium ore, Alexei Shvarts, the former head of Alexei Navalny's Kurgan regional office who previously worked on uranium mining issues,
affecting hundreds of thousands of people living near the banks of the Tobol downstream.Local ecologists said that the mines have been
accumulating "radioactive sludge" for years, while authorities have ignored numerous public protests against continued uranium mining in
"deliberate misinformation.""Contrary to recent claims by anti-nuclear interest groups, the floods in the Kurgan region have not affected
The mining site is strategically situated on elevated terrain, far removed from floodwaters, and has remained unaffected
Water levels in the Zverinogolovsky district are currently receding," Rosatom said in a statement emailed to The Moscow Times.The agency
said it was working alongside local authorities and Russia's emergencies ministry to monitor the flood situation."There is no evidence
whatsoever of any contamination of water content," the statement said.Andrei Ozharovsky, a nuclear physicist and antinuclear campaigner,
told The Moscow Times that these mines, which were built in the 1980s, were previously flooded in 1994.According to Ozharovsky, who surveyed
the area several years ago, some wells that were not properly sealed now leak a radioactive solution of uranium salts, which has potentially
made its way into the river.Given that uranium is both radioactive and toxic, similar to other heavy metals, its presence in a river used
uranium will enter their bodies
And internal radiation exposure is much more dangerous than external exposure," he said.Rosatom has previously dismissed protests against
uranium mining at Dobrovolskoye as "radiophobia combined with ignorance," claiming that the deposit is fully isolated from the Tobol River
by natural barriers and ruling out potential leaks and river contamination.
