On Tuesday 21 September 2021 at the IAEA Headquarters   in Vienna, IAEA hosted a side event “Renewing   Commitments: Signing Ceremony for the Revised and  Updated Strategic Master Plan for Environmental  Remediation of Uranium Legacy Sites in Central Asia”  ISTC participate virtually in the event as a stakeholder in   the implementation of projects within that Plan.

The Strategic Master Plan provides the strategic  foundation  for the Environmental Remediation Account for  Central Asia (ERA) managed by the EBRD. The coordinated approach presented in the Plan follows UNGA and IAEA resolutions on this important matter as well as the Agenda 2030. It has now been up-dated to reflect the progress made in resolving the uranium legacy in Central Asia and to update funding information since the first edition of the Strategic Master Plan was published in 2017.

The side event showed how the IAEA, EU, EBRD, CIS as well as the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan contributed to overcoming the uranium legacy. A video illustrated the works funded by ERA at the Min-Kush and Shekaftar sites in the Kyrgyz Republic. All parties renewеd their commitment to the endeavor by signing the revised Strategic Master Plan.

  ERA comprises the remediation of seven uranium legacy   sites: Min-Kush, Shekaftar, and Maily-Suu -  in   Kyrgyzstan;  Yangiabad and Charkesar - in Uzbekistan,   and Taboshar  and Degmai – in Tajikistan.

  ISTC is a member of the of IAEA’s Coordination Group   for Uranium Legacy Sites (CGULS) and is involved in   ERA through two Contribution Agreements with the EU,   entitled «Regional Water Monitoring System»   (Kyrgyzstan,  Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Mongolia), and   «Water Treatment  Facility Taboshar», respectively.

 Furthermore, three EU funded ISTC projects are close   related to the activities of CGULS namely: Project T-2409   «Hydrochemistry monitoring and risk assessment of   mining and uranium tailing in transboundary river   watershed of CA countries»; Project T-2412   «Transboundary Water and Land Resources Monitoring in   the Amu Darya Basin Using Earth Observation»; and Project T-2512 « Development of legal acts aimed at supervision over remediation activities of territories contaminated by uranium industry‘s radioactive waste in Republics of Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan »

During the signing ceremony Ms. Marjeta Jager, DG INTPA underlined the continued commitment of the European Union whereby the EC will contribute additional EUR 10 million to ERA as per the Plan signed on behalf of the EU by Stephan Klement, the Head of the European Delegation to IAEA. Speaking on behalf of one of the recipient countries, Ilhom Mirsaidzoda, Director of Nuclear and Radiation safety Agency, Tajikistan, noted with appreciation the positive and instrumental role of ISTC in the implementation of the above mentioned projects.