The first Soviet uranium mine was established in Taboshar (Istiklol) during the Second World War [1]. Taboshar  (Istiklol) used to be a mining “closed-city”, strategic areas closed to the general public by the central government [3]. 

The Taboshar uranium mine site is in the Ferghana Valley  close the Uzbek-Tajik border about 40 km due north of Khujand [2]. 

The site consists of a non-rehabilitated open mine pit, dismantled production buildings, and three tailing sites with 12 million tonnes  (about 3000 m high) [1,2]. 

in total, there are 55 million tonnes  accumulated in the Northern Taijistan  [1,2,4].

The town of Taboshar with its 12,000 inhabitants is only few kilometres away  from the 12 million tonnes of nuclear tailings [2]. Health officials confirmed they have recorded higher numbers of cancer cases and skin diseases in two towns Taboshar and Dehmoi. They suspect the rise in illness is linked to people's proximity to the waste sites [1]. uranium waste remains in uncovered and unsecured sites [3]. 

Known as Taboshar Hill, these are mounds of uranium waste. They sit uncovered, with no fence between the road and the waste [3]. The near by soil and water are contaminated. Locals use it for livestock grazing and feeding [3]. 

According to local initiatives for nuclear taillings issues in Taboshar the challenge of pollution is related to risks like earthquakes and mudflows, heavy rainfall or snow melt [3] . 

In November 2011, OSCE - Uranium Tailings: Local Problems, Regional Consequences, Global Solution, organized a community activity involving neighbourhoods, government and the enterprise Tabosharsky “Vostokredmet” responsible for the legacy site [3]. 

Together they manually cleaned the mudflow channel, which normally drains a mudflow through the area. However, there is still a risk  of uranium waste spilling into the Utkensu River [3]. Other local initiatives included installation of about 60 warning signs and fencing off the open pit uranium ore where people used to swim [3]. 

More substantial work on remediation and development is needed in this case. The total cost of such a big amount of nuclear waste clean-up is estimated to few millions of dollars [1,3].

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) stated that "due to the magnitude of the problem, it is hard to envisage that this issue will be solved in the near future." [4]. The UNECE (UN Economic Commission for Europe) and the EBRD have been involved.

Uranium mining in Asia started during World War II in Tabošar, the present-day Istiklol in the north of Tajikistan. According to a decree by Soviet leadership in 1942, four tonnes of uranium were supposed to be produced in just a few months, to supply the raw material for the first Soviet nuclear bomb. As in Kyrgyzstan, uranium mining and processing in Tajikistan was also treated as a state secret by the Soviet regime. When the last mine was closed in 1992, a total of 20,000 tonnes of uranium had been extracted [4]. Taboshar was the first of many officially secret Soviet closed cities related to uranium mining and production. The main issue now is the cleaning up of the million tons of uranium tailings.

In 2019 is was announced that the EBRD would provide 33.1 million Euros for remediation of uranium mining legacy sites in Tajikistan. [5].