{{Short description|Town in Jalal-Abad Region, Kyrgyzstan}} {{Infobox settlement |official_name = Mailuu-Suu |native_name = Майлуу-Суу |image_skyline = |imagesize = |image_caption = |image_flag = |image_seal = Coat of arms of Mailuu-Suu.svg |image_map = |map_caption = |pushpin_map = Kyrgyzstan |pushpin_label_position =bottom |pushpin_mapsize = 300 |pushpin_map_caption =Location in Kyrgyzstan |subdivision_type = Country |subdivision_type1 = Region |subdivision_name = 25px Kyrgyzstan |subdivision_name1 = Jalal-Abad Region |subdivision_type2 = |subdivision_name2 = |established_title = City Status |established_date = 1946 |government_type = |leader_title = |leader_name = |area_magnitude = |area_total_sq_mi = |area_total_km2 = 120 |area_land_sq_mi = |area_land_km2 = |population_as_of=2021 |population_footnotes = |population_total = 25892 |population_density_sq_mi = |population_density_km2 = auto |timezone = |utc_offset = |timezone_DST = |utc_offset_DST = |coordinates = {{coord|41.2457479|72.448039|format=dms|region:KG|display=inline,title}} |elevation_footnotes= |elevation_m = 1300 |elevation_ft = |postal_code_type = Postal code |postal_code = 721100 |area_code = (+996) 3744 |website = |footnotes = }} '''Mailuu-Suu''' ({{langx|ky|Майлуу-Суу}}, {{langx|ru|Майли-Сай}} ''Mayli-Say'')<ref name=bse>{{GSEn|072648|Майли-Сай}}</ref> is a mining town in the Jalal-Abad Region of southern Kyrgyzstan. It is a city of regional significance, and is not part of any particular district.<ref name=class>{{cite web|url=https://stat.gov.kg/media/files/21f93e4d-9418-433e-aed9-ecb28d70ef5a.doc|title=Classification system of territorial units of the Kyrgyz Republic|language=ky|date=May 2021|publisher=National Statistics Committee of the Kyrgyz Republic|pages=32}}</ref> Its area is {{convert|120|km2}},<ref name=census09>{{cite Kyrgyzstan census 2009|Jalal-Abad|13, 17}}</ref> and its resident population was 25,892 in 2021.<ref name=pop21>{{cite Kyrgyzstan population 2021}}</ref> It has been economically depressed since the fall of the Soviet Union. From 1946 to 1968 the Zapadnyi Mining and Chemical Combine in Mailuu-Suu mined and processed more than {{convert|10,000|ST|MT}} of uranium ore for the Soviet nuclear program.<ref>Djenchuraev, N. ''Current environmental issues associated with mining wastes in Kyrgyzstan''. Department of Environmental Sciences and Policy of Central European University, Budapest, 1999.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-09-03 |title=Mailuu-Suu: Cleaning up Central Asia’s toxic uranium legacy {{!}} Earth Journalism Network |url=https://earthjournalism.net/stories/mailuu-suu-cleaning-up-central-asias-toxic-uranium-legacy |access-date=2025-05-24 |website=earthjournalism.net |language=en}}</ref> By the early 1990s, uranium markets were facing hardships due to low demand and oversupply, and much of the uranium deposits in Mailuu-Suu had been depleted.<ref>Usov, Anton (2023-09-19). "[https://www.ebrd.com/home/news-and-events/news/2023/environmental-remediation-account-for-central-asia.html# Environmental Remediation Account for Central Asia]" ''European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.'' Retrieved 2025-10-17. </ref> These factors left much of the local population without meaningful work.<ref>{{citation|last=Trilling|first=David|newspaper=EurasiaNet|title=Kyrgyzstan: Radioactive Legacy Vexes Bishkek|date=May 26, 2009|url=http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insightb/articles/eav052709a.shtml|access-date=December 12, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130203130545/http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insightb/articles/eav052709a.shtml|archive-date=February 3, 2013|url-status=dead}}</ref> The town was classified as one of the Soviet government's secret cities, officially known only as "Mailbox 200".<ref>{{cite book |editor1=Afifi, Tamer |editor2=Jäger, Jill |title=Environment, Forced Migration and Social Vulnerability |date=5 August 2010 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |page=241 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m1vjtrmLpu4C&pg=PA241 |via=books.google.com |access-date=30 December 2017 |isbn=9783642124167}}</ref> Mailuu-Suu consists of the town proper, the urban-type settlement Kök-Tash and the villages Sary-Bee, Kögoy and Kara-Jygach.<ref name=class/>
==Population== {{Historical populations |title = |type = |align = none |width = |state = |shading = |percentages = pagr |1970|22963 |1979|27424 |1989|32422 |1999|23008 |2009|22853 |2021|25892 |footnote= Note: resident population; Sources:<ref name=census09/><ref name=pop21/> }}
==Uranium mills== {{see main|1958 Mailuu-Suu tailings dam failure}} View of Mailuu-Suu uranium tailing sites, 2010|thumb Uranium was initially found in the area in 1933, and in 1946, the uranium deposit opened.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Microbial communities and their interactions in the extreme environment |date=2021 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-981-16-3731-5 |editor-last=Egamberdieva |editor-first=Dilfuza |series=Microorganisms for sustainability |location=Singapore |page=322 |editor-last2=Birkeland |editor-first2=Nils-Kåre |editor-last3=Li |editor-first3=Wen-Jun |editor-last4=Panosyan |editor-first4=Hovik}}</ref> By the early 1950s, Mailuu-Suu had produced 10,000 tonnes of uranium oxide.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-09-03 |title=Mailuu-Suu: Cleaning up Central Asia’s toxic uranium legacy {{!}} Earth Journalism Network |url=https://earthjournalism.net/stories/mailuu-suu-cleaning-up-central-asias-toxic-uranium-legacy |access-date=2025-05-24 |website=earthjournalism.net |language=en}}</ref>
The USSR left 23 unstable uranium tailings pits on the tectonically unstable hillside above the town.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.blacksmithinstitute.org/projects/display/129 |title=Uranium in OshKyrgyzstan | Mailuu-Suu Legacy Uranium Dumps |publisher=Blacksmithinstitute.org |access-date=2014-01-30 |archive-date=2014-02-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202094342/http://www.blacksmithinstitute.org/projects/display/129 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Unsecured uranium tailings on unstable slopes near Mailuu-Suu pose major health and environmental risks due to landslide threats.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Remediation of Kyrgyz uranium legacy site to start |url=https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Remediation-of-Kyrgyz-uranium-legacy-site-to-start |access-date=2025-05-24 |website=World Nuclear News |language=en}}</ref> Radioactive waste on the Mailuu-Suu River also endangers the environment and population of the Fergana Valley.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Ferghana Valley: the heart of Central Asia |date=2015 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-317-47065-6 |editor-last=Starr |editor-first=S. Frederick |location=London New York}}</ref> The site's heavily polluted rivers and farmland severely affects the health and economy of communities in both Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-09-03 |title=Mailuu-Suu: Cleaning up Central Asia’s toxic uranium legacy {{!}} Earth Journalism Network |url=https://earthjournalism.net/stories/mailuu-suu-cleaning-up-central-asias-toxic-uranium-legacy |access-date=2025-05-24 |website=earthjournalism.net |language=en}}</ref> A breached tailings dam in April 1958 released {{convert|600000|m3}} of radioactive tailings into the river Mailuu-Suu.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Birsen|first1=N.|last2=Kadyrzhanov|first2=Kairat K.|title=Environmental Protection Against Radioactive Pollution: Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Environmental Protection Against Radioactive Pollution Almati, Kazakhstan 16–19 September 2002|date=6 December 2012|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|page=59|isbn=9789400709751|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c4G4BgAAQBAJ&pg=PA59|access-date=30 December 2017}}</ref> In 1994, a landslide blocked the river, which flowed over its banks and flooded another waste reservoir. A flood caused by a mudslide nearly submerged a tailings pit in 2002.<ref name="osce" />
Mailuu-Suu is considered to be the most radioactive region in Central Asia,<ref>{{Cite book |last=Afifi |first=Tamer |title=Environment, forced migration and social vulnerability |last2=Jäger |first2=Jill |date=2010 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-642-12416-7 |location=Berlin London |page=241}}</ref> and faces severe environmental challenges. Ranked by the Blacksmith Institute in 2006 as one of the 10 most polluted cities globally, its crisis stems from uranium waste left by decades of mining.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.blacksmithinstitute.org/site10g.php|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070203232933/http://www.blacksmithinstitute.org/site10g.php |archive-date=2007-02-03|title=Missing Controller |publisher=Blacksmith Institute |access-date=2014-01-30}}</ref> In 2014, the Institute reported that adolescents had elevated cancer rates and weakened immune systems.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Trilling |first=David |date=2015-08-03 |title=‘Everyone associates the dumps with death’: the Kyrgyz town built on nuclear waste |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/03/kyrgyzstan-nuclear-waste-health-pollution |access-date=2025-05-21 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> The World Bank approved a US$5 million grant to reclaim the tailings pits in 2004,<ref name=osce>{{cite web|author=Sarah MacGregor |url=http://www.osce.org/bishkek/57474 |title=Finding a solution for uranium waste in Kyrgyzstan - OSCE Centre in Bishkek |publisher=Osce.org |date=2004-02-04 |access-date=2014-01-30}}</ref> and approved an additional $1 million grant for the project in 2011.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/NEWS/0,,contentMDK:22936608~pagePK:64257043~piPK:437376~theSitePK:4607,00.html |title=News & Broadcast - 28, 000 Inhabitants of Mailuu-Suu Valey [sic] in the Kyrgyz Republic to Benefit from Improved and Safer Access on the Road to Villages |publisher=Web.worldbank.org |date=2011-06-09 |access-date=2014-01-30}}</ref> However, grave threats still persist.<ref>{{cite news|title=Uranium in Central Asia: Poisoned legacy|url=https://www.economist.com/news/asia/21657431-vast-region-suffers-soviet-unions-radioactive-hangover-poisoned-legacy|access-date=10 July 2015|newspaper=The Economist}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == * [https://web.archive.org/web/20171222052030/http://www.blacksmithinstitute.org/projects/display/129 Webpage of Blacksmith Institute about Mailuu-Suu, archived from the original] * [https://www.pureearth.org/project/mailuu-suu-legacy-uranium-dumps-2/ Latest report on Pure Earth (formerly Blacksmith Institute), accessed 2021-02-19 ]
{{Cities in Jalal-Abad Region}}
Category:Populated places in Jalal-Abad Region Category:Uranium mines in the Soviet Union Category:Mines in Kyrgyzstan Category:Radioactively contaminated areas