Representatives of the Movement Against Uranium Projects (MAUP) have opposed the proposed mining of alkaline uranium ore

by the Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL) at Thummalapalle near Pulivendula in Kadapa district. Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Capt J. Rama Rao and Dr Satyalaks hmi alleged that the project is detrimental to the health of the people in the d istrict. "Also, it is neither technically feasible nor financially viable. It is totally unsound and anti-people. It would have heavy social and environmental c osts," they said. They said the mining would last for 30 years at a capacity of 3,000 tonnes a day . At just 0.04 per cent, the uranium produced in the mines was very low. Of a to tal of 2.70 crore tonnes of the estimated ore reserves, only 7,692 tonnes was ac tual uranium. "After exploiting the mines, they would leave the place leaving heaps of radioac tive waste material there. They have no plans for addressing the problem," Capt. Rao said. Destroying a green valley They said the proposed land for mining and processing was mostly agricultural la nd where commercial crops such as banana, chilli, groundnut and sunflower were g rown. A green valley of 438.15 hectares would be destroyed. It would also cause serious damage to groundwater in a water-scarce region. "They say they would get water from Chitravati river, which is 50 km away. We also do not know whether t hey have permission to lay hands on the river water. Moreover, there is no water in the river," they said. The activists were also aware of problems they might face during the upcoming pu blic hearing. They said some locals expressed their inability to raise even thei r feeble voice, considering the fact that the project was coming up at Pulivendu la, the stronghold of Chief Minister Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy's family. Interes tingly, the activists produced an article written by Dr Reddy in a national dail y in 2003, strongly opposing UCIL's uranium mining activity in Nalgonda district . As the date for public hearing approaches, the MAUP has decided to hold an all-p arty meeting on Wednesday to discuss the issue. At the end of the nuclear dream may lie the terrible reality of human and enviro nmental waste. As the department of atomic energy (dae) desperately digs for new sources of natural uranium in Andhra Pradesh, the costs could be enormous. Havi ng left a trail of deformed children and unexplained deaths of miners in Jadugud a, Jharkhand, the nuclear establishment is all set to spread the radioactive thr eat to hundreds of villages in the southern state. The 1,000-acre core area includes the "buffer zone" of the notified Rajiv Gandhi Tiger Sanctuary.That is the fear which currently stalks anti-nuclear and health activists. They even warn against the impact on the twin cities of Hyderabad an d Secunderabad. The Uranium Corporation of India Limited's (UCIL's) hydro-metallurgical plant in Nalgonda district has attracted the ire of environmentalists who say its propos ed open-cast mine abuts the massive Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir. It is feared that radiation- and heavy metal-contaminated storm water run-off from the uranium mi nes would find its way into the reservoir. This is likely to impact the entire d ownstream of the Krishna river basin which caters to over six districts. The processing of the uranium ore mined at Lambapur-Peddagattu will be done 18 k m away, in a mill at Mallapuram that sits 4 km from another water body, the Akka

mpally reservoir. The Andhra Pradesh government is laying huge pipelines along a 130-km route to supply water from this reservoir to Hyderabad-Secunderabad and 600 villages most of whose inhabitants are affected by fluorosis caused by exces sive presence of fluoride in potable water. Having a tailings pond where radioacti ve and chemical waste from the mines and the mill will be dumped close to the rese rvoir can be dangerous, fears Ravi Rebbapragada of Mines, Minerals and People, a n ngo working for people who inhabit areas with mines. A United Nations Environm ental Programme report of 2001 lists 221 tailings dam "incidents" the world over . The disaster called Jaduguda should serve as an eye-opener. Says M.V. Ramana, re search staff member at Princeton University's program on science and global secu rity: "In Jaduguda, uranium mill tailings have been used to construct houses and roads; UCIL authorities have not warned the public that these emit radioactive radon and are therefore harmful to health." According to the UN Scientific Commi ttee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation, 70 per cent of the total radiation expo sure to miners comes from radon emissions. Besides the tailings, the 'rock overb urden' the pressure of tonnes of rock piling up as a result of mining poses an envir onmental problem. In Jaduguda, the radon-emitting tailings pond was perceived as the key hazard to the villages that surrounded it. Till 1999, the tailings pond was not fenced of f and people and animals used to even walk over it. A study conducted in 2000 by two medics, Sanghamitra and Surendra Gadekar, in the vicinity of Jaduguda showe d that 8 per 1,000 was the incidence of TB in the normal population. But among t he miners it was 80 per 1,000. Says Surendra: "Not all cases are actually of TB. Silicosis and lung cancer are occupational diseases that afflict uranium miners the world over. But UCIL chooses to term them TB." For, this allows it to blame the affliction on microorganisms rather than the noxious byproducts of mining. The Gadekars' study also found a high incidence of congenital deformities: "Ther e were 60 people with congenital deformities born near Jaduguda as against just 10 in otherwise similar villages. Living in the vicinity of a uranium plant is a sure invitation to producing deformed children. " The UCIL has, of course, cons istently and strongly denied any link between low-level radiation exposure and t he ill-health of the villagers. Says UCIL chairman and managing director Ramendr a Gupta: "In Jaduguda, there's only one person with lung cancer and he is in the accounts section." The Bihar legislative council had constituted an environment committee to study the issue, which in its December '98 report recommended a mi nimum distance of 5 km between a UCIL establishment and human habitation. However, the new mines at Lambapur and Peddagattu will be located along Adivasi habitations. The Lambadas of Lambapur oppose the "company people" in one voice. "At the primary school in Lambapur, one can study only up to third standard. To study further we've to walk 20 km to Nidmanur. Now they want to bring developmen t by setting up a company that's a threat to our lives," says Ravindra Naik, the only person in the 1,500-strong village who's a matriculate. Says Surendra: "Th roughout the world, from Canada to Australia to India, uranium mining is underta ken in areas inhabited by disempowered, indigenous people." Uranium mining generates massive amounts of low-level radioactive waste. By the late '90s, India had accumulated an estimated 4.1 million tonnes of waste from m ining and milling. In Lambapur and Peddagattu, 1,250 tonnes of ore, containing a bout 0.65 tonnes of U308, will be generated daily. This will be transported in t arpaulin-covered trucks along 18 km, on partly hilly roads, to the milling unit at Mallapuram. After the ore is processed into magnesium diuranate or yellow cak e, the waste will be dumped in a tailings pond, 500 metres from the Mallapuram v illage with a population of about 1,500. According to the US-based Institute for Energy and Environmental Research, "the

mill tailings contain 85 per cent of the radioactivity of the original ore, alon g with heavy metals and toxic materials". The solid-liquid ratio in the tailings are roughly 40-60. The UCIL plans to mine in Lambapur-Peddagattu for 20 years a nd the tailings pond will accumulate millions of tonnes of radioactive waste. Th e half-life of the principal radioactive components of tailings thorium-230 and ra dium-226 are about 75,000 years and 1,600 years respectively. Radium-226 decays in to radon gas. In exposed mill tailings, radon emissions can be detected up to on e mile. Besides, the 1,000-acre core mining area falls under the Yellapuram Reserve Fore st covered by the "buffer zone" of the notified Rajiv Gandhi Tiger Sanctuary. On ce mining begins in Lambapur-Peddagattu, UCIL also intends to open up Chitrial, right in the middle of the tiger reserve. A. Madhusudana Rao, chief superintende nt of the project, told Outlook: "Chitrial has good uranium reserves. We are try ing to convince the ministry of environment and forests to allow us to mine ther e. We'll compensate by undertaking afforestation." But if J. Rama Rao, a former navy captain who heads the Hyderabad-based Movement Against Uranium Project, is to be believed, "this is against the guidelines of the environment ministry for location of industrial and mining activities around the protected and ecologically sensitive areas, and the provisions of the Wildl ife Protection Act, 1972, and Forest Conservation Act, 1980". The reserve is les s than 6 km away from the proposed mining area and the law prohibits such activi ty within 25 km of a notified sanctuary. Given the stiff resistance for the past 20 years from the Khasis of Domiasiat, M eghalaya, over starting a mine there, the UCIL is extra keen on the Andhra Prade sh project where mining and milling units will be set up at a cost of about Rs 5 00 crore. Says UCIL CMD Gupta: "Currently India produces 2,720 MW of power from our reactors. By the end of the Tenth Five Year Plan we hope to produce 4,020 MW and for this six pressurised heavy water reactors and two light water reactors are under construction. We already have 14 reactors. Soon, we will need fuel for all the 22 reactors. Hence we are going for expansion of mines." In India, less than 3 per cent of the power generated is from nuclear energy despite 50 years of investment. Reactors do not only produce electricity, they also produce pluto nium for weapons. The uranium available in India is of a very low grade. Officially, the average y ield at the Jaduguda mines is about 0.067 per cent. In Lambapur and Peddagattu, the ore is expected to yield 0.052 per cent of U308. In countries like Canada wh ere the yield of natural uranium is up to 20 per cent, they dump what India has been mining as waste. The price of U308 in the international market as of July 2 003 is $23.90 per kg. Activists say if India were to import this uranium, it wou ld save itself the dirty processes of mining and milling and, of course, crores of rupees. However, that would not be possible since, as Gupta points out, "We have not sig ned the NPT and CTBT. In this regime of technological denial, we have to generat e our own resources. Uranium will have to be mined in the national interest. Def initely, if we procure U308 from outside, it will be much cheaper." In LambapurPeddagattu, 155 tonnes of U308 is expected to be mined annually. Gupta insists there are no stipulations against human habitations in the mine or mill vicinity. To convince the villagers that all was well in Jaduguda, the UCI L handpicked seven people from the five to-be-affected villages in Nalgonda and showed them around Jaduguda. This has worked. People in Peddagattu, where an und erground mine is proposed, seem enthusiastic about the project. About the impact on health, R. Narayana, panchayat ward member from Peddagattu, says: "That may take some 20 years. Let's see when that happens." Radiation-induced cancer does take some 20 years to set in. But it may only be postponing a calamity. The cloc

k is already ticking.