In the warehouses of a partially destroyed enterprise near Tash-Kumyr, 80 tons of toxic trichlorosilane are stored.
This is what the "Kristall" factory looks like from a bird's eye view, which could supply semiconductor products to all CIS countries. Construction of the facility began in 1985, and two years later, the first batch of products was released. The factory was intentionally built in this location. The Naryn River, quartz deposits, and the constructed hydroelectric power station created unique conditions for such production.
Former workers of "Kristall" report that the main goal was to produce monocrystalline wafers with chips. At that time, such high-tech enterprises could be counted on one hand worldwide.
“Everyone who produced these wafers immediately became billionaires. It’s an incredibly profitable industry! The wafers are now used everywhere: in phones, computers, televisions. Thanks to our unique natural conditions, their production cost would be twice as low as in Japanese factories—Japanese companies had to cool the water, while ours is already cold,” they explain.
According to a former employee, foreign competitors specifically bought the enterprise to dismantle it. The now-bankrupt factory poses a particular danger: it stores 80 tons of a hazardous substance—trichlorosilane. Even a single breath can be fatal to a person.
Interacting with it requires heightened attention and caution from the staff due to the toxicity of trichlorosilane. Contact with even small droplets on the skin can lead to, at the very least, a very painful and poorly healing chemical burn; a large amount can cause severe injuries, including the separation of muscle tissue from bones.
When inhaled: excitement, headache, runny nose, throat irritation, cough, difficulty breathing, nausea, vomiting. When swallowed: burning and pain in the throat, along the esophagus, in the stomach area, diarrhea. In severe cases, convulsions and death are possible.
THE MOST AFFECTED ORGANS AND SYSTEMS: Central nervous, cardiovascular, and respiratory systems, gastrointestinal tract, liver, kidneys, morphological composition of peripheral blood, skin, eyes.
“The gas eats away at concrete and rebar—it breaks like a stick. Do you see these yellow spots on the walls? That’s all trichlorosilane leakage. The containers in which it is stored are gradually deteriorating. It’s frightening to imagine the scale of an ecological disaster if the gas enters the atmosphere,” specialists say.
The government allocated 6,430,000 thousand soms from a special fund for the prevention and elimination of emergencies to prevent an ecological disaster and to dispose of hazardous substances. However, according to local activists, the funds allocated several years ago for waste disposal were misused. Law enforcement agencies have opened a criminal case, but the problem remains unresolved. If the authorities continue to ignore the chlorine issue, Tash-Kumyr may face an ecological disaster.
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