Chkalovsk, Secret City

Chkalovsk, secret city. Chkalovsk is a city in Sughd province of Tajikistan inside the Fergana valley, the city was founded in 1946 as a satellite of the big city of Khujand (Leninabad) during the former Soviet Union and was considered a secret city till the 1990 where was only a point number 51 on the map. The city was the headquarter of Leninabad Mining and Chemical Combine the first-born of the nuclear industry of the USSR: from uranium mined and enriched process here they launched the first nuclear reactor and made the very first Soviet atomic bomb that and up in Stalin’s Hands. In 1980 Russian citizens and their families working for the glorious nuclear industry made the 95% of the population. Chkalovsk had a luxury era at that time there was an artificial lake a big luxury hotel for the Russian establishments and the scientist and workers lives all- together in the district that now has the name of Papete (Victory, refer to the civil war) that is now next to the Khujand international airport, the second airport in Tajikistan. With the collapse of the Soviet Union began the process of mass exodus from the city. For the first 12 years, the city has left 80% of the population. In recent years the city's population began to increase from 26.000 to 31.900 people in 2014. Nuclear industry left years ago during the civil war between 1990 and 1995 but the nuclear waste remained in the territory where is still stuck with about 54.8 million tonnes of unsecured waste from the now mainly abandoned mines (UNECE data). The waste is not treated, not confined, not secured form to Taboshar where the finishing of the enrichment process was made. Till the 2013 villagers admit to a reporter Kamari Ahrorzoza that they pasture their cattle close to the site even though it is not allowed. They blame radiation for health problems and lower crops yields. I In 2014 the UN launched a program to secure the area and built a long wall to contain the area that was contaminated by Uranium waste.