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On
one side, managers of uranium mines lure poor inhabitants with
jobs. On the other, the invisible radioactive radon gas lurks in
the mines to sign death warrants by lung cancer for the mining
workers. Ignorance of atomic radiation coupled with an eagerness
to improve their standard of life has made many all over the world
victims of uranium mining. This is in addition to the irreparable
damage to the environment. In the end, around the abandoned mines,
generations are doomed to lead lives of pain and misery. The story
has been the same in several parts of the world, as it always is
when the US is concerned. Navajo Indians in the midst of Navajo
reservations that stretch from New Mexico into Arizona and the
aboriginal Canadians in Canada’s north-western areas of
Saskatchewan and Ontario and in other continents, all have been at
the receiving end of the superpower’s greed. Now it commences
for a second time in India in the Nalgonda district of Andhra
Pradesh in south India, while the first instance in India is more
or less complete in and around the uranium fields of Jaduguda in
Jharkhand in the north.
Uranium mining is known to be hazardous. Apart from the usual
risks of mining, uranium miners worldwide have experienced a much
higher incidence of lung cancer and other lung diseases. There are
several studies indicating an increased incidence of skin cancer,
stomach cancer and kidney disease among uranium miners. Uranium is
the heaviest metal that occurs in nature. It is an unstable
material that gradually breaks apart or ‘decays’ at the atomic
level. Any such material is said to be radioactive. As uranium
slowly decays, it gives off invisible bursts of penetrating energy
called ‘atomic radiation’. It also produces more than a dozen
other radioactive substances as by-products. These unstable
by-products, having little or no commercial value, are known as
‘uranium decay products’. They are discarded as waste when
uranium is mined. One of them is a toxic radioactive gas called
radon. The others are radioactive solids.
Core
issues
The
core issues of uranium mining and processing are:
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Uranium
and its decay products buried deep in the earth are brought to
surface and radon gas produced in the mine causes lung cancer
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Leftover
piles of materials or ‘uranium tailings’ contain over a
dozen radioactive materials. There is no perfect storage of
these radioactive materials to prevent them from finding their
way into the soil, water, plants, animals, fish and humans
License
On
18 February 2003, the minister for mines and geology, A Uma
Madhava Reddy, government
of Andhra Pradesh, said in the Legislative Assembly that the
atomic minerals division of Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL),
having found deposits of uranium to the order of 11.02 million
tonnes in Peddagattu area of PA Palli mandal of Nalgonda
district, had applied for a mining lease covering Lambapur and
Peddagattu areas, and that it was being processed. The
corporation, she also said, wanted to establish a
hydro-metallurgical plant for processing the ore. Uranium deposits
are also reported to be present in Srikakulam and Visakhapatnam
districts.
On 20 August 2003, the chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu publicly
stated that a decision will be taken only after evaluating all
aspects including employment opportunities against the damage to
the environment and after allowing sufficient understanding to
develop in the minds of people. This assurance by the chief
minister is encouraging. Therefore, there is a need to examine the
question: Is it in the public interest to grant license to
Nalgonda uranium project?
The UCIL is moving all concerned quarters to obtain a license to
extract uranium ore from the Lambapur and Peddagutta reserves in
Nalgonda district. The corporation has estimated that the two
reserves have about 11.02 million tonnes of uranium (ore) deposits
spread in 536 hectares land. UCIL plans to commence mining over
400 hectares of the Rayaram reserve forest and to set up a uranium
ore processing plant near Mallapuram village in the PA Palli mandal
just three kilometres away from the Azmapuram reserve forest.
It has, reportedly, proposed to invest about Rs 450 crore (US$ 96
million) for setting up the plant. According to estimates, the
UCIL proposed to generate about 1,250 tonnes of ore per day for 20
to 25 years.
Senior officials of the forest department voiced their concern
that the Lambapur-Peddagattu uranium mining project in Andhra
Pradesh is spread over the reserve forest in violation of the
provisions of the Forest Act, and the uranium processing plant is
less than six kilometres from the Nagarjuna tiger reserve, and it
violates the provision of Indian Wildlife Act which disallows
industrial activity within 25 kilometres of a notified sanctuary.
Mining, being an activity capable of increasing noise levels,
environmentalists are seized with the apprehension that the
project, if it takes shape, will drive away the wildlife in the
area. The tiger reserve and the adjoining reserve forest is home
to tigers, bears, several species of deer and other animals.
There are four areas with promising uranium deposits: the
Singhbhum district (Bihar), West Khasi hills (Meghalaya), the
Bhima Basin area (Gulbarga district of Karnataka), and the
Yellapur-Peddagattu area of Nalgonda district (Andhra Pradesh).
Having failed to obtain a license in other areas, the UCIL is
pressing for it in Nalgonda. In Meghalaya, UCIL faced opposition
from the local Khasi tribe which has so far prevented UCIL from
developing a commercial uranium mine at Domiasiat in the
north-eastern province of Meghalaya. A senior UCIL official said
in May 2003, “Every time we turn up at the uranium mines at the
Domiasiat uranium project in Meghalaya, the tribe’s people chase
us with bows and arrows and swords…They call us the agents of
death and threaten to kill us if we try to mine uranium.”
Uranium
tailings
During
mining, the uranium and its decay products buried deep in the
earth are brought to the surface, and the rock containing them is
crushed into fine sand. After the uranium is chemically removed,
the sand is stored in huge reservoirs. These leftover piles of
radioactive sand or uranium tailings contain over a dozen
radioactive materials, which are all extremely harmful to all life
forms on earth. The most serious of these are thorium-230,
radium-226, radon-222 (radon gas) and the radon progeny including
polonium-210. If this radioactive sand is left on the surface and
is allowed to dry out, it can blow in the wind and be deposited on
vegetation far away, entering the food chain. Or it can wash into
rivers and lakes and contaminate them.
Thorium-230 is the uranium decay product with the longest
lifetime. It lasts for hundreds of thousands of years – in human
terms, forever. Thorium is especially toxic to the liver and the
spleen. It has been known to cause leukaemia and other blood
diseases. It decays to produce radium-226, which in turn produces
radon gas (radon-222).
So the amount of radium in the waste and the quantities of radon
gas produced by it will not diminish for a long time, because they
are constantly being replenished by the decay of the very
long-lived thorium-230.
Radium-226 is one of the more dangerous uranium decay products. It
is a radioactive heavy metal and a potent alpha emitter. As it
decays, it produces radon gas as a by-product. Radium is
chemically similar to calcium, and, when ingested, it migrates to
the bones, the teeth and the milk. It is readily taken up by
vegetation. In aquatic plants, it can be concentrated by factors
of hundreds or even thousands.
Radon-222 is a toxic gas created by the decay of radium-226. Most
of the radon is normally trapped in the ore-bearing rock deep
within the earth. But when the rock is excavated and crushed, a
lot of radon gas is released into the air. The uranium miners
breathe this radioactive gas into their lungs. Radon (the gas and
its progeny) is a very powerful cancer-causing agent. Even small
doses inhaled repeatedly over a long time can cause lung cancer.
Uranium tailings constantly produce large amounts of radon gas
through the decay of radium in the tailings. This gas can travel
thousands of kilometres with a light breeze in just a few days. As
it travels, it continually deposits solid radon progeny on the
ground, water and vegetation below. Radon also dissolves readily
in water and can be transported by ground-water into wells and
streams.
Radioactive radon gas decays, producing seven radioactive decay
products called “radon progeny”. These solid radioactive
materials attach themselves to tiny dust particles and droplets of
water vapour floating in the air.
Jadugoda
In
the past four decades, after uranium mining started in our
country, thousands have died due to lack of adherence to basic
safety standards considered mandatory to uranium mining. The
tribal population in villages around Jadugoda, Narwapahar and
Bhatin uranium mines of UCIL are victims of radiation. Near the
Jadugoda mine, an independent study by experts recorded the yearly
dose of nuclear radiation exposure 58 times more than the allowed
international standard of 100 millirem. An environment committee
of Bihar legislative council, headed by Gautam Sagar Rana, had
pointed out in its report the health hazards to which miners
working in the uranium mines and the tribals (residing close to
the tailing ponds used for dumping of nuclear wastes) are exposed.
Children in the 15 villages surrounding the uranium mines show
signs of genetic mutation and over 60 per cent of the workers
manning the tailing ponds are afflicted with serious ailments like
bone, blood and kidney disorders, brain damage, cancer, paralysis,
tuberculosis and nausea.
In
conclusion
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Nuclear
issues in India are treated as something quite out of purview
of the ordinary citizen, which can only be comprehended by a
select group. This is the main reason the public in India has
been so passive about the risks of nuclear technology.
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An
environment impact assessment undertaken by UCIL on the
Nalgonda uranium project requires a thorough examination. It
will be of no use if the examination is left to people who
thrive on grants and favours from the department of atomic
energy.
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Nalgonda
uranium project has many dangers in store for the people of
Nalgonda district and other areas in Andhra Pradesh as
radioactive material is bound to enter the soil, water,
plants, animals, fish and even humans resulting in irreparable
damage.
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It
is irrational not to separate nuclear weapon pursuit from that
of nuclear power for producing electricity. This irrationality
has resulted in starving funds for hydropower projects and
alternate sources of clean energy from solar, wind and ocean
waves. The hydropower plants and projects to store surface
water would not only give electric power but would also result
in drinking water, navigation and fishery.
The
people of Nalgonda cannot be left to become victims of irrational
plans aiming to achieve 20,000 MW of electricity from nuclear
power by the year 2020. Nalgonda uranium project is anti-people.
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