(521.5107) WISE Amsterdam - Environmental organizations from the Caucasus started an appeal to raise awareness in order to stop this cruel war. The war is doubtlessly leading to an environmental catastrophe due to the bombing and rocket shooting on enormous quantity of chemical and oil refinery plants in Ichkerya (the indigenous name for Chechnya).
The situation in Chechnya and in the Caucasus is being complicated by the fact that, near the capital of Chechnya Grozny, on the Karakh Mountain at the river Terek, a huge disposal site for radioactive waste is being situated. This specialized complex (called "Radon") was built during the Soviet era and has been in operation since 1965. The radioactive material buried there include: Cobalt-60, Plutonium, Beryllium, Radium- 226, Caesium-137, Thorium, Thulium-170, Iridium-192, Americium-241, Iodine-131, etc. Its total volume is 906m3.
The radioactive waste with various characteristics and half- life periods was imported from four North Caucasus Republics: Kabardino-Balkaria, Dagestan, Ossetia, Checheno-Ingushetia.
During the war of 1994-96, the government of the Russian Federation issued a special order establishing a physical protection regime for all hazardous sites on the territory of Chechen Republic, including radioactive wastes' disposal site (so-called "mogilnik", i.e. tomb). A governmental committee was created to evaluate the state of matters at the radioactive waste disposal site. However, at present these sites are left without any protection, and Russian authorities do not care about the danger threatening the entire Caucasus region. Since October 15, guards have abandoned the "Radon" site due to the danger on their life.
At present, the site comes under intensive and blind shelling and missile bombardment. Highly powerful surface bombs can cause disclosure of shafts and radioactive contamination of the environment. The river Terek flows to the Caspian Sea basin, flowing in proximity of three to five km from the "mogilnik", and winds transporting radioactive dust through the Terek-Caucasian range, will in such a case pollute the entire Caspian-Black Sea basin. According to the data of scientists from Georgia, Chechnya and other countries in the Caucasus, a catastrophe with the disposal site "Radon" would have severe consequences for the whole region.
Moreover, in the surroundings of the city of Grozny in various regions at factories and enterprises, one can find 67 different sources of radiation with long half-life periods. And these units are subjected day by day to the rockets and bom- bings.
In the 1994-1996 Chechnyan war almost half of the material of the Radon facility was said to have been stolen, due to lack of security: guards fled when the Russian army came close. According to reports underpaid and demoralized Russian soldiers may have taken the material and sold it in the black market as potential for a crude "dirty bomb". The same reports spoke about an increase in radioactivity levels in Grozny during that period.
Sources:
- Joint Appeal of the Georgian and Chechen non-governmental organisatons, 8 November 1999, Tbilisi
- Information Z. Kadyrov by email 11 November 1999
- WISE News Communique 463/4, 13 December 1996
E-mail: rio@caucasus.net
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |