The Nuclear Landscape as a Garden 37
tolerated so far by city authorities, allegedly for lack of better alternatives. 146
Just as worrisome as radioactive air pollution is the fact that with the levels
of the nearby Caspian Sea still rising, groundwater is expected to eventually
wash radioactive and toxic wastes into the sea. Nevertheless, at present, waste
waters are again channeled into the reservoir to slow the drying up, given
that radioactive dust is considered the more imminent problem. 147
The fact that a thorough conservation is expected to be extremely costly
has prompted some unconventional suggestions for solving the problem. 148
In 2001, the then president of the national nuclear company Kazatomprom,
Mukhtar Dzhakishev, suggested to transform one of Aktau’s former uranium
mines into a repository for both domestic and imported solid nuclear waste.
The expected multibillion revenues from storing the latter could then be used
for the cleanup of radioactively polluted areas and the reprocessing of nuclear
wastes not only around Aktau, but also in all of Kazakhstan, he explained.
Clearly, the idea was inspired by contemporary discussions about the commercial import of nuclear waste in the Russian Federation. 149 However, the
Kazakhstani parliament refused to amend the country’s environmental protection law accordingly. 150 As a result, Aktau escaped the fate of becoming the
world’s nuclear dumping ground, but the remediation of its uranium-mining
legacy also remains pending. Recently, the director of MAEK has once again
brought up the idea for discussion. 151
Even without importing other countries’ nuclear waste, Kazakhstan still
struggled not only with safely disposing its own waste materials, but also
with keeping track of it. Radioactive scrap metals, in particular, continue
to pose a serious problem in Mangyshlak. In one of the more spectacular
cases reported by Aktau city authorities, metal rods that had apparently been
stolen from the unguarded site of the former uranium-processing plant were
found in a suburban garden plot emitting 1 500–150 000 µR/h – enough to
receive a lethal dose within hours. 152 Exacerbating the problem, large quantities of radioactive scrap metal from oil production are scattered all over the
peninsula, 153 and in other regions where the Soviet nuclear complex has left
its traces, the situation is no different. In the early 2000s, the problem was so
endemic that China adopted the practice of checking freight trains, which
were arriving from Kazakhstan and carrying scrap metal, for radioactivity
at its border crossing points, denying entry if radiation exceeded permissible
values. 154 Instead of importing radioactive wastes, Kazakhstan was unwillingly exporting them.
Back to the Future? Outlook and Conclusions
If dystopian nuclear landscapes will accompany humankind into the future,
so will their utopian counterparts. This, at least, is the impression to be
gained from studying the showcase projects of authoritarian modernization
regimes in the post-Soviet space, which, in many cases, still revolve around
nuclear-powered nature transformation. In their most unmitigated form,
tolerated so far by city authorities, allegedly for lack of better alternatives. 146
Just as worrisome as radioactive air pollution is the fact that with the levels
of the nearby Caspian Sea still rising, groundwater is expected to eventually
wash radioactive and toxic wastes into the sea. Nevertheless, at present, waste
waters are again channeled into the reservoir to slow the drying up, given
that radioactive dust is considered the more imminent problem. 147
The fact that a thorough conservation is expected to be extremely costly
has prompted some unconventional suggestions for solving the problem. 148
In 2001, the then president of the national nuclear company Kazatomprom,
Mukhtar Dzhakishev, suggested to transform one of Aktau’s former uranium
mines into a repository for both domestic and imported solid nuclear waste.
The expected multibillion revenues from storing the latter could then be used
for the cleanup of radioactively polluted areas and the reprocessing of nuclear
wastes not only around Aktau, but also in all of Kazakhstan, he explained.
Clearly, the idea was inspired by contemporary discussions about the commercial import of nuclear waste in the Russian Federation. 149 However, the
Kazakhstani parliament refused to amend the country’s environmental protection law accordingly. 150 As a result, Aktau escaped the fate of becoming the
world’s nuclear dumping ground, but the remediation of its uranium-mining
legacy also remains pending. Recently, the director of MAEK has once again
brought up the idea for discussion. 151
Even without importing other countries’ nuclear waste, Kazakhstan still
struggled not only with safely disposing its own waste materials, but also
with keeping track of it. Radioactive scrap metals, in particular, continue
to pose a serious problem in Mangyshlak. In one of the more spectacular
cases reported by Aktau city authorities, metal rods that had apparently been
stolen from the unguarded site of the former uranium-processing plant were
found in a suburban garden plot emitting 1 500–150 000 µR/h – enough to
receive a lethal dose within hours. 152 Exacerbating the problem, large quantities of radioactive scrap metal from oil production are scattered all over the
peninsula, 153 and in other regions where the Soviet nuclear complex has left
its traces, the situation is no different. In the early 2000s, the problem was so
endemic that China adopted the practice of checking freight trains, which
were arriving from Kazakhstan and carrying scrap metal, for radioactivity
at its border crossing points, denying entry if radiation exceeded permissible
values. 154 Instead of importing radioactive wastes, Kazakhstan was unwillingly exporting them.
Back to the Future? Outlook and Conclusions
If dystopian nuclear landscapes will accompany humankind into the future,
so will their utopian counterparts. This, at least, is the impression to be
gained from studying the showcase projects of authoritarian modernization
regimes in the post-Soviet space, which, in many cases, still revolve around
nuclear-powered nature transformation. In their most unmitigated form,