On July 18th, the opening Kazakhstan branch of the international organization "Women of the Nuclear Industry" (WiN Kazakhstan) on the basis of the "Nuclear Society of Kazakhstan" held the first communication online webinar on the topic "Radioecological Situation in the Republic of Kazakhstan" from a series of webinars dedicated to the topic of peaceful atom.

The speaker of this meeting was Maria Severinenko, Head of the Group for Environmental Impact Assessment and Environmental Monitoring of the Center for Integrated Environmental Research of the Republican State Enterprise "Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan", who has over 15 years of experience in this industry.

At this meeting, the participants learned about the research work conducted by the institute in the field of radioecology. The speaker paid special attention to assessing the state of the Azgir, SIP and LIRA test sites facilities with bringing them to a safe state. Special attention was given to the facts on the content of certain elements in waters of transboundary rivers and on the fight against illicit trafficking in nuclear and radioactive materials.

At the end of the speech, the audience was able to ask the speaker their questions. Among the most actual of them were questions about the state of soil and water at territories adjacent to test sites, the state and monitoring of abandoned mines, problems of radioactive waste disposal, etc.

As the director of the Nuclear Technology Safety Center, Professor I.L. Tazhibayeva correctly noted, the Law "On RW Management in the Republic of Kazakhstan" should be of fundamental importance for solving radioecological problems.

Currently, in the Republic of Kazakhstan there are only rules, recommendations and methodological guidelines for RW management, including storage and disposal issues. Some of the issues will be covered in the Environmental Code, which is now supplemented by the categorization of radioactive waste, in accordance with the adopted IAEA standards.

It is noteworthy that the webinar platform brought together women specialists in the nuclear industry, whose activities are in one way or another related to the problems of radioecology. We were supported by our colleagues from the Nuclear Technology Safety Center of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Laboratory of Structural Materials of the Kazakh State University, the Technical Academy of Rosatom, Rostechnadzor, NPO “Typhoon”, etc.

It should be especially noted that this webinar was held with the support of the Russian branch of WiN Global (WiN-Russia) and its President A.M. Yakovleva.

In her welcoming speech, Alena Mikhailovna noted that today it is extremely important not only to develop new environmentally efficient technologies, but also to discuss the very sphere of ecology from a public point of view. In her personal opinion, it is very important to understand that scientists, leaders, and politicians, together with public leaders, should jointly study the field of ecology in a holistic manner, because our overall quality of life and our happiness in it depend on it.

“Radioecology is still a poorly studied and difficult topic for public perception, which we, in the Women of the Nuclear Industry movement, must learn to tell and present in an interesting way, while observing scientific correctness and literacy to overcome radiophobia and fears,” she underlined.

Based on the results of the event, it was decided to release the final document of the webinar, which can be used in further work related to the exchange of experience between the organizations of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Kazakhstan on research in the field of radioecology.

 Recording of the past webinar:

WiN Kazakhstan: Radioecological Situation in the Republic of Kazakhstan,
part 1 www.youtube.com/watch

WiN Kazakhstan: Radioecological Situation in the Republic of Kazakhstan,
part 2 www.youtube.com/watch