Abstract
At the Azgir nuclear test site in Western Kazakhstan 17 nuclear explosions were carried out at a depth of 165 to 1500 m, as well as ground explosions. Nine underground cavities with a total volume of about 1.2 million m3 with extremely high residual radioactivity were formed in the thickness of the rock salt layers. Five of the nine cavities are filled with groundwater and strontium, cesium and plutonium radionuclides are leaking into the environment, and radionuclides spread through food chains. A medical examination of the inhabitants of the Azgir zone showed that their state of health is much worse than the corresponding indices for the population, especially children, than the average for the region (in terms of morbidity and mortality by 2-3.5 times). The analysis performed showed the relevance of developing a method for cleaning groundwater from radioactive isotopes, as well as other toxic substances at landfills in the Atyrau region, which will reduce the environmental burden in the region. A method has been developed to purify water from isotopes based on a mixture of sorbents with a recovery rate above 99%.