BISHKEK -- Three Public Environmental Information Centres (PEICs) -- dedicated, among other things, to educating the public about the potential security risks of Soviet-legacy uranium sites -- opened in Kyrgyzstan September 14
The PEICs, established by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), are situated in three towns: two in the south and one in the north. They are meant to raise local residents' awareness of the risks of living abandoned uranium mines and uranium tailing dumps.
Uranium dumps and old uranium mines present environmental and public health problems, but the Nuclear Threat Initiative, on its own website, noted the potential security concern: "Highly radioactive materials, which could be used to produce radiological dispersal devices (RDDs or 'dirty bombs'), might be present inside the [Kyrgyz] tailings, as well as in abandoned equipment at these sites."
