Uzbekistan's existing Republican Radioactive Waste Storage Center may only have enough capacity to last another four to five years, officials told the Legislative Chamber during the first reading of the Management of Radioactive Waste Bill Tuesday.
The bill aims to comprehensively regulate radioactive waste for the first time — covering everything from generation and processing to storage, transport, and disposal. Lawmakers cited the growth of the country's nuclear energy sector and the construction of new nuclear facilities as key reasons a dedicated law is needed.
The bill would establish safety requirements, define the powers of government bodies, set out the rights and obligations of organizations and citizens, enshrine the "polluter pays" principle, provide for public participation, and outline the responsibilities of a national radioactive waste management operator. The bill runs to six chapters and 48 articles.
Sardorbek Yakubekov, deputy chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers' Committee for Industrial, Radiation and Nuclear Safety, told lawmakers that roughly 176 organizations currently work with radioactive sources in Uzbekistan, involving about 2,500 sources in total. Spent sources are held at the Republican Radioactive Waste Storage Center.
"Of the center's 10 storage facilities, four are already full, and the rest are between 50% and 92% full. At current capacity, we have roughly four to five years left before we run out of storage space," Yakubekov said.
He also raised the issue of Uzbekistan's uranium legacy. Between 1964 and 1994, operations at the Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Combinat left more than 57 million tons of uranium waste at the tailings site of Hydrometallurgical Plant No. 1.
Between 2023 and 2025, a €9 million grant from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development funded the remediation of legacy uranium sites in Yangiabad and Charkesar. However, Yakubekov said the absence of a legal framework for long-term monitoring of already-buried radioactive waste is limiting further remediation efforts at similar sites, including those that could be funded through the EBRD.
"Uzbekistan has a nuclear research reactor and is building a nuclear power plant, yet there is no dedicated legislation comprehensively regulating radioactive waste management," the committee's report stated.
The bill's stated goal is to regulate relations in the field of radioactive waste management and protect public life, health, and property, as well as the environment, from harmful effects — for both current and future generations.
The bill addresses:
- Safety requirements for handling radioactive waste
- powers of ministries, agencies, and organizations
- rights, obligations, and liability of citizens and organizations
- independence of state oversight
- "polluter pays" principle
- public participation
- compliance with international standards
- operations of a national radioactive waste management operator
- requirements for siting, designing, building, commissioning, operating, and decommissioning radioactive waste facilities
According to the bill's presenter, its adoption will not require additional funding from the state budget. The bill has been coordinated with 31 ministries and agencies, has undergone public discussion, and received a favorable scientific opinion from the Academy of Sciences' Institute of Nuclear Physics.
Drawing on international experience
The bill was drafted in line with standards set by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the requirements of international conventions, relevant European Union directives, and the legislation of several other countries.
Lawmakers were told that of the IAEA's 181 member states, 81 have adopted dedicated legislation governing radioactive waste management.
The bill drew on the experience of the United States, Belgium, Germany, France, Sweden, South Korea, Russia, and Kazakhstan. During its preparation, the drafters also consulted six foreign experts from international organizations and regulatory bodies in Italy, Spain, Lithuania, and Russia, along with eight specialists from Uzbek ministries and agencies.
During the discussion, lawmaker Zafar Khudoyberdiev flagged a possible contradiction in the bill: one provision refers to "ownerless radioactive waste," while another states that radioactive waste containing nuclear materials is exclusively state property. "How do these two provisions square with each other?" he asked.
Yakubekov explained that "ownerless waste" refers specifically to former Soviet-era uranium mining sites. "These are former uranium mine sites that operated during the Soviet period, were later abandoned, and are now effectively ownerless. Since there's no owner, it's also unclear who holds title to them," he said.
He also clarified the provision in Article 36 on state ownership of certain categories of radioactive waste, explaining that organizations working with radioactive waste may temporarily store it on their own premises before transferring it to the specialized long-term storage center in the Parkent district. "Radioactive waste can be temporarily stored by the organization itself before it's transferred to the specialized long-term storage center. The permanent storage facility itself is already state property — that's what these provisions are based on," Yakubekov said.
The bill's drafters agreed to further refine this and other disputed provisions ahead of the second reading.
Following the discussion, the Legislative Chamber approved the bill in its first reading.
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