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By Moushumi Basu The uranium mining and processing facility in Jadugoda, severely indicted for its health impact on local communities, is all set for expansion. A public hearing was held on May 26. But the hearing was as skewed as the environmental health and safety reports submitted by UCIL, claim activists
 The Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL), under the Department of Atomic Energy which has the sole responsibility of mining and processing uranium ore in the country, is all set to expand the tailing dam and enhance its ore processing capacity plant in Jadugoda, in the East Singbhum district of Jharkhand. The company has also sought a renewal of the lease of the deepest and oldest uranium mines in the country. The Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) and Environment Management Plan (EMP) reports for the proposed project have been prepared by the Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research (CIMFR), Dhanbad. They were drawn up on the basis of baseline environmental data monitored during the period December 2007-March 2008. A public hearing was held on May 26, 2009. According to Ramendra Gupta, CMD, UCIL: “The EIA is intended to renew the lease of the Jadugoda mines and receive forestry clearance for an additional 6.37 hectares for stage three expansion of the tailing dam and enhancement of the ore processing capacity plant, from 2,090 tonnes per day (TPD) to 2,500 TPD.” This is according to MoEF letter No J-15012/5/2005-IA11(M). The estimated cost of project expansion is Rs 1,217 lakh. “This may be said to be a marginal expansion along with the renewal of lease for which EIA and EMP are mandatory,” Gupta added. Meanwhile, the proposed expansion plans of the ore processing plant include augmenting capacity for crushing, grinding, leaching, clarification units etc, besides the installation of an effluent treatment plant. The company also has plans to exploit techno-commercial viable uranium deposits at Bagjata and Mahuldih in Jharkhand, Lambapur-Paddaguttu and Tummalapalle in Andhra Pradesh. The number of people presently engaged in the Jadugoda mine and mill is 1,806; no additional manpower is required for the proposed expansion. The lease area for the Jadugoda mine is 388.23 hectares, encompassing the villages of Ichra, Mechuya and Tilaitand, which is part of the contiguous lease of the Jadugoda and Bhatin complex comprising 531.21 hectares. The lease was granted by the government of Bihar in 1986. Application for a second renewal was made with the Jharkhand government in 2006, for 20 years. Meanwhile, the company has operational mines in Jadugoda, Bhatin, Turamdih, Narwapahar and Banduhurang besides an ore processing plant in Jadugoda and Turamdih. Installed capacity at the Jadugoda mine is 1,000 TPD of ore. The method of operations at the Jadugoda mine is ‘horizontal cut and fill’. The mine’s present working depth is 555 m; the deepest point is 905 m from the surface. According to available figures, annual ore production stood at 0.195 MT for the year 2007-08. The Jadugoda mines have ore reserves of 1.68 MT. The life of the mines is expected to be around 10 years, with projected ore production. However, as explorations continue, the life of the mines could be extended if there is confirmation of the presence of ore at deeper levels. Interestingly, a chart taken from the company’s EIA and EMP reports indicates that the rate of production is expected to be maintained at the same level for the next five years, up to 2015. Meanwhile, in a crucial turn of events, the veracity of the environmental and health status of areas around the uranium mines, as underlined in the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) and Environment Management Plan (EMP) reports, has been questioned by international experts. Dr Tilman A Ruff, Australian head of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) and a member of the board of directors of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning organisation International Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), and Professor Hiroaki Koide from the Research Reactor Institute, Kyoto University, Japan, have expressed serious concern, saying that “nowhere is human settlement so perilously close to the mines of the Uranium Corporation of India as in Jadugoda, casting severe health and environmental impacts”. The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), New Delhi, in association with the Jharkhandi Organisation Against Radiation (JOAR), carried out tests on 10 water samples taken from the area. The three-page report, signed by Dr Sapna Johnson, deputy coordinator, states that the presence of heavy metals detected in the water samples is disturbing. Chromium was detected in all 10 samples; in two samples, levels were almost twice that of the prescribed limit (0.05 ppm). Cadmium was detected in nine out of the 10 samples; the highest concentration was detected in the sample from an outlet of the tailing dam. It was two times higher than the desired limit (0.01 ppm). Copper was found in all 10 samples; the highest concentration was found in the water sample from the tailing dam. It was seven times higher than the desired limit (0.05 ppm). Lead was detected in eight out of the 10 samples; the highest concentration was 14 times higher than the desirable limit (0.05 ppm). Mercury too was detected in seven out of the 10 samples; the highest concentration was three times higher than the desired limit (0.001 ppm).  In sharp contrast, the findings of the CIMFR from a test on water samples carried out at 11 stations reveal that “in general, the measured values in groundwater are found to be within the threshold limit of drinking water standards… Lead and iron concentrations have been detected slightly higher than the prescribed standard in some locations”. The reports on radiation levels are equally conflicting. According to the EIA and EMP reports, the “radiation level varies from 0.6 to 1.71 µGy/h, the levels are significantly lower at the embankment and value reduces further to the background level of the region in the surrounding area of the tailing dam”. Professor Hiroaki Koide’s report (he carried out sample tests on the soil and air in surrounding villages) notes that the amount of air-gamma dose exceeds 1 mSv/y in the villages and reaches 10 mSv/y around the tailing ponds. “The circumference of tailing ponds is polluted with uranium. The strength of the pollution is 10-100 times higher in comparison with the place without contamination.” Koide’s report also points to cesium contamination in tailing pond No 1. “This fact shows that radioactivity was brought from another polluted source which was not a uranium mine,” the report says. It adds that local villagers use tailings in the building material for their homes. “There are places where uranium concentration is high, in the road or the riverside, and it is thought that tailings are used as construction material.” The observations of a health survey carried out by a team of doctors and specialists within a distance of 1.6 metres from the tailing dam in the EIA and EMP reports are also startlingly different. It concludes that the disease pattern cannot be ascribed to radiation. The doctors examined 598 villagers from Bhatin, Mechua, Tilaitand and Tirilghutu. They found diseases related to the respiratory tract, musculo-skeletal diseases and gastro-intestinal disorders. “No cases of congenital deformities, mental retardation or cancer have been detected by them. Infertility was well below the national average,” says the report. On the other hand, a survey conducted by Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD), the Indian chapter of IPPNW, shows a significant increase in congenital deformities among babies of mothers who lived around the uranium mining area. “An increased number of children in the study villages are dying due to congenital deformities. Out of mothers who have lost their children after birth, 9.25% of mothers in the study villages reported congenital deformities as the cause of death of their children as compared to only 1.70% of mothers in the reference villages,” the report states. The report adds that according to the Ministry of Social Justice, Government of India, people with disabilities constitute 3% of the total population. The Indian government has several criteria for defining disabilities; congenital deformities is only one of them. When seen against this backdrop, the survey reveals that people with disabilities in the study villages are significantly greater in number than the all-India average. Further, 2.87% of households in the study villages attributed the cause of death to cancer, whereas 1.89% of households in the reference village fell in this category. The study shows that cancer as a cause of death among people living near the uranium mining operations area is significantly high. The study also reveals that 68.33% of deaths in the study villages took place before the age of 62, the average life expectancy in the state. JOAR claims that Uranium Corporation of India Limited has kept people in the affected villages in the dark about its proposed expansion plans. Nor have the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) or the Environment Management Plan (EMP) reports been circulated amongst them. JOAR is the winner of the Germany-based Nuclear Free Future Award for its crusade against the hazards of uranium mining in Jadugoda, Jharkhand. It is also a member organisation of the Coalition for Nuclear Disarmament and Peace. Members of JOAR have also raised questions about the usefulness of public hearings. “It is all a farce, going by similar so-called hearings held by the company earlier in Baghjanta, Banduhurang and Mahuldih,” Charan Murmu, senior member, JOAR, points out. “They were mere formalities; the company got away by simply inviting their employees.” JOAR has sought transparency from the company in this regard. Regular meetings are being held in village after village to mobilise support for its next course of action. “It is surprising that UCIL intends to go ahead with its expansion plans without providing any prior information to the affected villagers,” says Ghanshyam Biruli, President, JOAR, who is also a local resident. He alleged that the company had not told them about the public hearing in advance. “We are gathering information by hearsay, learning that it will be held within the premises of the company itself. We have not been given the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) or the Environmental Management Plan (EMP) reports. Is it then not an exercise in futility,” members of JOAR ask. In reply to these allegations, D Acharya, Director Technical, clarifies that copies of the EIA and EMP reports are not for mass distribution. “Places of availability of these reports have been stipulated, as, for instance, with the pollution board, district administration, etc, from where they can be obtained. In case of further clarifications, we are there,” says Acharya. The villagers also allege health and environmental hazards due to radiation. When questioned, Acharya said: “UCIL’s safety measures are the best in the world, on a par with international standards at any point of time.” He pointed out that the company is dealing with naturally occurring materials; it is not enriching ore in Jadugoda. Besides, the ore here is of low grade, he said, hence the environmental risks are minimal. “Also, the impact of radiation is being constantly monitored by independent watchdogs. There are independent health experts who are constantly with us, for round-the-clock monitoring of the situation. There is really no cause for concern,” he added. Biruli maintains that the company still has to fulfil commitments made to local villagers during the first phase of land acquisition, nearly 40 years ago. Around 531.21 hectares of land were acquired in the villages of Ichra, Mechua, Matigora, Sidhadanga, Bhatin, Chatikocha and Tilaitand; 40-50 families are still battling for compensation and jobs. “When it has failed to clear its 40-year backlog, how can further extension be allowed on our lands,” he asks. Likewise in 1996, when the company was in the process of acquiring 105 acres of land for its third tailing dam, in Chatikocha, says Dumka Murmu, Secretary, JOAR. “The company had promised to rehabilitate the 20-25 affected families in an alternative site. But, 13 years down the line, nothing has been done and the villagers continue to reside precariously in the vicinity of the tailing pond,” he says. Similar promises were made when a pipe carrying uranium waste burst in Dungridigh village, on three occasions in the last three years. The company agreed to improve living conditions and rehabilitate 15-20 families. To this day, however, nothing has been done, says Charan Murmu, senior member of JOAR. “We have been informed by unauthorised sources that amongst the various project benefits are improvement of infrastructure, 19 km of roads, and a high-level bridge connecting Sundergarh to Jadugoda. But who will benefit most from all this -- the local villagers or the company itself, asks Biruli. (Moushumi Basu is a journalist based in Jharkhand) ‘No more uranium, no more hibakusha’ ‘No more uranium, no more hibakusha (the Japanese term hibakusha means ‘victims of nuclear radiation’ or ‘survivors of a nuclear disaster’); ‘Do not destroy our land’; ‘The public hearing is a farce… stop it’ were some of the slogans sported by local villagers who tried to interrupt the UCIL public hearing being held by the Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board in Jadugoda, on May 26, 2009. The hearing was conducted at a heavily fortified venue, near CISF camp in UCIL Colony, in Jadugoda, amidst the imposition of Section 144. Local villagers living in the vicinity of the uranium mines staged a dharna under the banner of the Jharkhandi Organisation Against Radiation (JOAR) against the public hearing. Supporting the cause was radiation expert Dr Mehr Engineer, Former Director, J C Bose Institute, Kolkata, V T Padmanabhan, radiation epidemiologist from Bangalore, and Pradeep Dutta, eminent writer on nuclear and environmental issues. “Does it look like a public hearing? It is more an employees’ hearing,” said Engineer. Making a dig at UCIL, he added: “Look at the types of forces that have been deployed 1 km from the venue, at Jadugoda: baton-and-gun-wielding police, ordinary police, women police, rapid action force personnel and commandos. They are leaving no stone unturned to stop the common man from reaching the venue.” Still, the tent put up for the hearing filled up as hundreds of UCIL workers and other beneficiaries began occupying the chairs since early morning. The real public -- those who have lost their lands to the mines and whose health has been compromised by the pollution -- had no place in the process. Indeed, there were women and children holding placards that read: ‘When compared to hunger, pollution is a small issue. Save UCIL’. Scuffles broke out when the villagers, under JOAR, attempted to interrupt the proceedings. Even women were not spared as the security forces whisked them away from the tent. “We were not allowed to put forward our views on the occasion, so we chose to boycott it,” said Pargana Charan Murmu, a local villager and senior member of JOAR. Similar public hearings by UCIL have earlier been held at Baghjanta, Banduhurange and Mahuldih during the course of the company’s four-decade-long mining activity. V T Padmanabhan remarked: “UCIL should first clear up the mess it has been creating for the past 40 years and pay due compensation; further expansion is thoroughly unwarranted.” According to the EIA, the ore present in Jadugoda is of poor quality (0.06% of natural uranium) and that in other countries it would not even be considered a uranium ore. Once India is allowed to buy uranium from the international market, the only purpose of local production would be to cater to the country’s defence needs. And, since the DAE has a huge stockpile of high-level waste (containing plutonium) generated over the last 30 years, there would appear to be no need for additional fissile material, if the strategic imperative is 500 warheads (which is what other smaller nuclear powers like China, UK, etc, have). Mining and milling of low-grade uranium is not only economically unviable, it is also ecologically unsustainable. “Why then do we need to throw the lives of so many poor villagers into such complete disarray,” asked Pradeep Dutta. Interestingly, the proceedings began with the general manager of UCIL reading out a document listing details of the project. The crowd was barely able to follow the technical jargon which went on for around 30 minutes. After it was over, the organisers announced the names of speakers from among the ‘public’. The sentiment was unanimous: UCIL provides jobs, food, clothing and houses; all talk of radiation was anti-national propaganda. UCIL has to be protected at any cost; there was therefore no need to hear any viewpoint that was against the company’s interests. When contacted, D Acharya, Director Technical, UCIL, said: “The public hearing was very successful. We got complete cooperation from the villagers and they are happy with the proposed expansion.” It was very peaceful, he added, denying reports of scuffles and an exchange of blows at the venue. “After all, it (the expansion) would provide them with more opportunities for employment and would douse the fire in their belly,” he concluded. JOAR and other organisations fighting environmental issues related to radiation, livelihoods, loss of land due to mining, and contamination of farmlands and waterbodies decided to boycott the so-called public hearing as there was no possibility of presenting the views of the affected people. Local villager and president of JOAR, Ghanshyam Biruli, Dumka Murmu and Charan Murmu, also of JOAR, later briefed the press. Their major demands are (a) no new uranium mines (b) bring the existing mine under international safety guidelines (c) return tribal land that was acquired earlier but has not been used for mining (d) provide livelihoods and rehabilitation to displaced people (f) clean up the contamination (g) conduct an independent study on environmental contamination and the health effects of mining on people, and (h) continuous monitoring of waterbodies to ensure that radio-nuclides do not seep into the aquifer, the lifeline of over 100,000 people. The activists reiterated their position that there was no compelling need to expand the capacity of UCIL as the country could now buy uranium from the international market. In another development, in a letter to the Jharkhand State Pollution Control Board, JOAR questioned the ultimate purpose of the public hearing considering that the affected villagers had not been allowed to speak, nor were they given the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) or Environmental Management Plan (EMP) reports. Further, the hearing was held within the premises of UCIL Colony. Was all this in the spirit of a public hearing? “When we did manage to get the report, we found that places like Jadugoda Colony, Narwa Pahar Colony, etc, where the impact of radiation is relatively low have been deliberately surveyed,” Ghanshyam Biruli points out. Why has data not been collected from villages in Tilaitand, Chatikocha, Dungridih, etc, which are closer to the tailing dam? | InfoChange News & Features, May 2009
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