The price for nuclear capabilities?

By Aarti Dhar

NEW DELHI, APRIL, 5. All the uranium for the 10 Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) in the country comes from a single plant at Jaduguda in Bihar, a sprawling complex fed by three underground uranium mines and the by-product from three nearby copper mines. This complex is the foundation on which the Indian nuclear fuel chain rests. But nearly 30,000 people of 15 villages within 5 km of Jaduguda are paying for India's nuclear capabilities.

Besides dumping radioactive waste from the mines and the plant, Jaduguda is becoming the dump yard of radioactive and toxic waste from other parts of the country as well. Highly dangerous radioactive waste from the Nuclear Fuel Complex, Hyderabad, is dumped in the tailing dams of Jaduguda.

According to the Jharkhandis Organisation Against Radiation (JOAR), an NGO working in the area, the tribals here have noticed that small animals, including mice, monkeys and rabbits, have disappeared over the years. Kendu fruits have mutated into seedless varieties, and cows are born without tails. Fish are being discovered with unknown skin diseases.

At a press conference here today, Mr. Ghanshyam Biruli, JOAR president, said it was impossible to gauge how much radioactive material was circulating in the environment and how much taken into the food chain. The Uranium Corporation of India Limited insisted that there was no radiation here and refused to commission independent studies on the overall impact on the environment, he said.

Jaduguda had been operational for over 30 years, and little attempt has been made to isolate the local people or the workforce from the mine effluents. Several villages virtually sit on the tailing dams - where the waste from the plant goes - and crops are grown in the run-off areas. Also, miners work underground and in the mill without any protective clothing apart from their gloves.

Survey's findings

A survey conducted by the JOAR along with another organisation, BIRSA, found a high degree of chronis skin disease, cancers, TB, bone and brain damage, kidney problems, nervous system disorders, congenital deformities, nausea and blood disorders. The incidence of miscarriage and stillbirths had shown an abnormal increase.

However, the most visible and heartbreaking impact has been the genetic damage which is spoiling the coming generations.

Having lost all hope of getting response from the UCIL authorities, the JOAR activists have sought the intervention of the Prime Minister in saving the people of Jaduguda.

The organisation submitted a charter of demands at the Prime Minister's Office, demanding among other things, setting up a multi-disciplinary team to look into the impact of the mining operations on the environmental, health, safety and economy of the region. The study should commence within three months and the report made public within a year, it demanded.

Also, the import of radioactive waste and radio- medical waste here should banned and the Department of Atomic Energy should find dump yards which are at a safe distance from waterbeeds and human habitation. Besides, transportation of all radioactive material should be done according to internationally specified norms and no land around Jaduguda should be acquired for construction of tailing dams.

Another demand made to the Prime Minister was that all the villages around the tailing dams should be shifted to safer places and a full-fledged medical centre set up at the site to treat low level radiation related diseases.

A documentary film ``Buddha Weeps in Jaduguda'' on radioactive pollution from uranium mines was shown at the press conference. The film has won the Earth Vision Grand Prize at the 8th Tokyo Global Environment Film Festival and the third prize at the South Asian Film Festival held in Kathmandu in January this year.

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