Residents of Tatarskaya Karabolka outraged by the project of a technopark in the zone of radiation contamination

Alexander Dybin

Residents of the small village of Tatarskaya Karabolka in the north of the Chelyabinsk region, as well as neighbors from several settlements, are sounding the alarm because of the technopark project, where they want to process and store waste from metallurgists. A site was chosen for the enterprise, which is included in the East Ural radiation trace. This area was contaminated with radiation after the Mayak accident in 1957. Tatarskaya Karabolka itself is located on the very border of the exclusion zone; at that time, several meters were not enough to decide on resettlement to the most contaminated area. Since then, the population of the village has decreased by almost 10 times.

People are worried about the project of a technopark for waste disposal, which they want to build five kilometers to the north. People are concerned about both the enterprise itself, where they will accumulate, store and manipulate hazardous substances, and the location - the land around the village is still contaminated with radionuclides. A nature reserve was even created very close so that no one would visit the most polluted areas.

Svetlana Abdrakhimova , deputy of the Kuyash village council, which includes the village of Tatarskaya Karabolka, notes that the land for the technopark once belonged to the villagers and were agricultural shares. But a couple of years ago they were bought by a company from Yekaterinburg.

“In 1957, these territories were taken out of economic circulation, but then they studied this phenomenon and found out that during the summer, cereals do not have time to accumulate radionuclides. Here they were allowed to sow, - the deputy says, - then the land was distributed in the form of shares to the residents. And they sold. And only now realized to whom and why. An agronomist came to us and said that nothing at all could be touched there for 65 years. That trees were specially planted so that the soil would not be eroded and nothing would get into the air. And they are going to make a technopark there, any construction involves digging, pits, places for storing waste, etc., cars will drive around and raise dust. How do they not realize that they are letting the genie out of the bottle. It's very scary. Until 1957, 4,500 people lived in our village, and now there are only 300. There are seven cemeteries in Karabolka, they are already larger in territory than a residential area.”

Sudden victory in court

People learned about plans to build a technopark near the village in 2020, when a new draft master plan for the Kuyash settlement, to which this territory belongs, was submitted for approval. People noticed that the site near Tatarskaya Karabolka was being transferred from agricultural land to industrial land. When people and a few deputies demanded an explanation, the Geosoft company from Yekaterinburg arose, which was named the initiator of the project. No details about what exactly the company is going to build then (and now too) no one called. What exactly is going to be stored and processed here, to what extent, whether ecological examinations have been passed - no one knows this, and this was not announced in the public sphere. At the same time, the project was supported by local authorities, who hurried the deputies to make the necessary decisions. At the same time, the assembly of deputies of the Kunashaksky district voted for the transfer of land near Karabolka for the needs of industry. However, against the backdrop of popular discontent and the position of the prosecutor's office, the deputies canceled their decision. The prosecutor's office, by the way, found a number of formal violations, in particular, the possibility of placing a waste management facility had to be agreed with the neighboring municipality - the Kasli district, since the zone planned for the technopark is located on the border of the municipalities.

But Geosoft appealed in court the decision of the deputies, to whom they sent the master plan for revision. Two instances sided with the residents, but the appellate court in St. Petersburg, unexpectedly for many, ruled in favor of the merchants.

“They won the court on August 9,” says Dayan Ishtimirov, a deputy of the Kunashaksky district, “we believe that they lost the court due to the fact that our meeting of deputies and the district administration were not prepared, just no lawyers went there, although they knew that there will be a meeting. The prosecutor in court was against the project, spoke on the side of the people. But since the meeting of deputies is the defendant, it was this body that should have expressed its position, but they did not say anything, so the court accepted Geosoft's arguments.

Formally, now nothing prevents businessmen from putting the project into operation; formally, the master plan is valid, the land is industrial. True, residents still have about three months to file a cassation complaint.

“We will appeal the court's decision,” says Rimma Gabbasova, deputy of the Kunasha Assembly, “this applies not only to us, but also to the neighboring Kaslinsky district, where residents of the villages of Bulzi, Allaki, and Beregovoy are worried. Not so long ago we all got together and discussed the problem, they are also against it. We will write from each settlement to the governor and prepare for the trial.”

What the authorities say

Geosoft is registered in Yekaterinburg. According to the SPARK database, the founders are LLC Metallsnabkomplekt and individuals: Denis Zaichenko, Dmitry Vislinsky (who is also the director), Nikolai Kartashev. The company posted zero revenue in 2020 and 2021. The phone numbers of the company specified during registration are not available.

Back in 2021, at the height of the scandal, the regional authorities stated that there were no projects for the technopark and that it did not go through the necessary procedures.

“According to the Ministry of Ecology of the region, there are no engineering surveys or design documentation for the facility. The possibility of implementing such objects is determined by the authorized bodies at the stage of passing state examinations. Public hearings, at which it was planned to discuss the draft terms of reference, were previously postponed by the administration of the Kunashaksky municipal district, ”the media said in the government of the region.

In February 2021, Vice Governor Stanislav Mosharov confidently told reporters that the project would not be implemented.

“Firstly, no one even saw the project. Secondly, such topics cannot be approached simply technically, they should be discussed at the regional level ..., Mosharov said then. - Taking into account that the initiators of the project did not take this into account, and also that the changes were not agreed with the residents, the governor instructed to sort out the issue. We held a number of meetings, consultations, and as a result, the deputies canceled their decision to amend the general plan, therefore, it is still impossible to change the purpose of the land and place such an object on them.”

In response to a request from Novye Izvestiya, the government of the Chelyabinsk region noted that they had been familiar with the project since 2019 and it received a positive assessment.

GEOSOFT LLC plans to create the Ecotechnopark complex in the Chelyabinsk region in order to produce secondary products by processing waste from the metallurgical and mining industries, construction sites and other areas of economic activity. The project provides for the creation on the territory of the region of a specialized facility for the collection and processing of industrial waste of II-V hazard classes, - the government said, - according to the conclusion of the Ministry of Ecology of the Chelyabinsk Region dated February 1, 2019, the implementation of the specified investment project in the Chelyabinsk Region subject to the requirements of the current legislation is expedient from the point of view of environmental safety and reducing the anthropogenic load on the environment. According to the conclusion of Rosprirodnadzor for the Chelyabinsk region (from the same date - ed. note). the implementation of the investment project "Facility for handling industrial waste of hazard class II-V on the basis of the Ecotechnopark" is possible subject to compliance with the requirements of environmental legislation.