Putin Seeks Answers as Radioactive Leak Fears Grow

Russian President Vladimir Putin sought answers this week amid the country's worst flooding in decades which has led to the evacuation of tens of thousands of people and a report that a uranium mine has been flooded.

During a meeting on local flood response measures on Wednesday, Putin asked the acting head of Kurgan, Anastasia Argysheva, where the local mayor was. When he learned that she had resigned in January, he proposed organizing elections in the region and taking "appropriate measures," local media reported.

Putin was "surprised" that the mayor of Kurgan was not present at the meeting, RBC news reported.

The Russian Urals region and neighboring northern Kazakhstan have suffered the worst flooding in 80 years amid heavy rainfall exacerbated by large snowfalls, which melted rapidly as a result of higher-than-usual temperatures this spring. Authorities evacuated tens of thousands of residents from Kurgan and Orenburg in recent weeks as floodwaters rose.

Agentstvo, a Russian investigative site, reported Monday that the Dobrovolnoye uranium mine, located in the village of Uksyanskoye in Kurgan's Zverinogolovsky district, was submerged by the flooding. It is operated by a subsidiary of state nuclear agency Rosatom.

There was no mention in the RBC report that Putin had specifically referred to the uranium mine during the meeting, and state nuclear agency Rosatom has denied that the mine was affected by the flooding.

"Reports of production wells entering the flooding zone are deliberate misinformation," the division of the state nuclear agency which operates the mine told state-run news agency Tass on Tuesday.

Newsweek has reached out to the International Atomic Energy Agency and Russia's Foreign Ministry for comment by email.

The mine is estimated to hold approximately 7,077 tonnes of uranium at a grade value ranging from 0.01 percent to 0.05 percent uranium, according to NS Energy Business.

Environmentalists told Agentstvo that they fear the nearby Tobol River could become contaminated with uranium. The river is used to source drinking water for Kurgan residents.

Andrei Ozharovsky, an expert in the Radioactive Waste Safety program of the Russian Social-Ecological Union, told the investigative site that a leak of uranium from the Dobrovolnoye mine would lead to an increase in the concentration of uranium salts in the Tobol River, and this may contaminate drinking water for residents.

He also told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) in an interview published on Thursday that parts of the uranium mine are "already underwater."

"Part of this uranium reserve which is already underwater, they started extraction in the 1980s, during the Soviet times. A lot of old uranium wells are just left out," said Ozharovsky. "The underground pressure bumps up uranium solutions, and I measured it myself several years ago, that around these wells, there is an increasing level of radiation."

Agentstvo said that environmental activists in Kurgan have for years been urging authorities to ban uranium mining in the area over fears that the radioactive solution would contaminate groundwater and the Tobol River.

On Wednesday, Alexander Kurenkov, head of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations, said the worst of the flooding had hit the Kurgan region, and that floodwaters were approaching the nearby Tyumen region.

"Thanks to pre-planned and implemented preventive measures, it was possible to avoid the catastrophic consequences of the spring flood," Kurenkov told Putin at the meeting.

"The government of the Kurgan region has arranged to provide financial assistance to the affected population. To date, more than 15,000 applications have been submitted. Almost 1,500 people have received financial assistance," Kurenkov added.

Do you have a tip on a world news story that Newsweek should be covering? Do you have a question about the Russia-Ukraine war? Let us know via worldnews@newsweek.com.