Uchkuduk

Uchkuduk (Uzbek: Uchquduq / Учқудуқ; Russian: Учкудук) is a city (pop est 27,000) in the north of the Navoiy Province, Uzbekistan. The city's name means "three draw-wells" in Uzbek. It is located at 42°9′24″N 63°33′20″E / 42.15667°N 63.55556°E / 42.15667; 63.55556, at an altitude of 193 meters. Located in the middle of the Kyzyl Kum Desert, Uchkuduk was a "closed city" in Soviet times due to its strategic open pit uranium mines, which supplied the raw material for the nuclear weapons in the Soviet military arsenal.