98 Sophie Roche
uranium mining after the cessation of Soviet Union, we need to look at
historically rooted social and cultural relationships between people and their
environments.
The Earth Mountains of Ghafurov
When a guest arrives from the airport and is brought to the city of Khujand,
he or she passes the city of Chkalovsk, and just before entering Khujand,
passes a heap of earth (which is not directly linked to the Dehmoi tailing
dump). One can see a small path that is used to cross the heap in order to
save time by avoiding walking around it. It does not fit into the landscape,
is too big to be a construction site, and too small and evenly shaped to be
a natural mountain. When I asked what this “mountain” was, I was told
“some uranium waste is buried here” or simply “I don’t know, some waste.”
Understandably, the populace walks over the waste, drives by it, and lives
with it as part of their geography. According to informal talks, every year
another two meters of earth need to be added in order to keep radiation from
penetrating the mound. The grass growing over the mountains does not suggest that this is done at yearly intervals, however.
The waste fields between Dehmoi and Khujand, according to RFE,
are among the largest tailing dumps of Central Asia and the first that were
used as such. On 90 ha, more than 38 million tons of radioactive waste are
spread. The waste still has the radioactive strength of about 3000 µR/h.
The journalist claims that much of the waste was covered under one-and-ahalf meters of earth. 45
In similarly unspecific ways, people talk about other places where the uranium combines are located, which were used before to enrich yellowcake.
One worker that is employed at one of the factories does not even know what
substances she is working with. As she recalled, “we have to walk through
water without protection, although our supervisors receive money for protective clothing” (woman, 24.08.2015). While these may not be radioactive
substances, she and her colleagues do not know what the substances are that
they have to process or what implications they have on their health. They
merely notice that their supervisors visit them only in special clothing and
they overhear conversations that outline how the workers should be wearing
protective clothing as well. Such experiences turn into rumors that are articulated in the same cultural logic. Simple workers have their place in the social
hierarchy and are responsible to work as employees in factories that process
uranium for the benefit of the city and the country.
From another angle but within the same hierarchy, villagers dig in uranium waste because they heard that precious metals can be found. They
expect to find treasure within. 46 Apparently, the highly radioactive waste was
earlier put into some “highly precious metals” that would not rot. Suhrob
Rahimov had told the press that “I have repeatedly seen 10 to 12-year-old
boys searching for iron waste. They still don’t know that walking over that
uranium mining after the cessation of Soviet Union, we need to look at
historically rooted social and cultural relationships between people and their
environments.
The Earth Mountains of Ghafurov
When a guest arrives from the airport and is brought to the city of Khujand,
he or she passes the city of Chkalovsk, and just before entering Khujand,
passes a heap of earth (which is not directly linked to the Dehmoi tailing
dump). One can see a small path that is used to cross the heap in order to
save time by avoiding walking around it. It does not fit into the landscape,
is too big to be a construction site, and too small and evenly shaped to be
a natural mountain. When I asked what this “mountain” was, I was told
“some uranium waste is buried here” or simply “I don’t know, some waste.”
Understandably, the populace walks over the waste, drives by it, and lives
with it as part of their geography. According to informal talks, every year
another two meters of earth need to be added in order to keep radiation from
penetrating the mound. The grass growing over the mountains does not suggest that this is done at yearly intervals, however.
The waste fields between Dehmoi and Khujand, according to RFE,
are among the largest tailing dumps of Central Asia and the first that were
used as such. On 90 ha, more than 38 million tons of radioactive waste are
spread. The waste still has the radioactive strength of about 3000 µR/h.
The journalist claims that much of the waste was covered under one-and-ahalf meters of earth. 45
In similarly unspecific ways, people talk about other places where the uranium combines are located, which were used before to enrich yellowcake.
One worker that is employed at one of the factories does not even know what
substances she is working with. As she recalled, “we have to walk through
water without protection, although our supervisors receive money for protective clothing” (woman, 24.08.2015). While these may not be radioactive
substances, she and her colleagues do not know what the substances are that
they have to process or what implications they have on their health. They
merely notice that their supervisors visit them only in special clothing and
they overhear conversations that outline how the workers should be wearing
protective clothing as well. Such experiences turn into rumors that are articulated in the same cultural logic. Simple workers have their place in the social
hierarchy and are responsible to work as employees in factories that process
uranium for the benefit of the city and the country.
From another angle but within the same hierarchy, villagers dig in uranium waste because they heard that precious metals can be found. They
expect to find treasure within. 46 Apparently, the highly radioactive waste was
earlier put into some “highly precious metals” that would not rot. Suhrob
Rahimov had told the press that “I have repeatedly seen 10 to 12-year-old
boys searching for iron waste. They still don’t know that walking over that