INDIA intends to increase the share of nuclear power from 3.1 per cent of its total energy generation to 25 per cent by 2050. Six nuclear power reactors are under construction and eight are in the pipeline. While the country plans to expand mining of uranium to feed the reactors, a yet-to-be-released study by the environmental group “Toxics Link” pointed out that it lacked knowledge about handling nuclear waste; the existing uranium mines do not follow requisite safety methods.

Most uranium is mined in Jadugoda in East Singhbum district and three other places in Jharkhand. The ore in Indian mines contains a low percentage (0.042-0.051 per cent) of the mineral, except in Meghalaya. The problem with low-grade ore is that extracting a small amount of concentrated uranium generates a large amount of waste. The ore grade is high in Meghalaya but an onslaught of rains makes the terrain almost inaccessible for six months in a year.

The Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) plans to invest about Rs 31 billion to set up new mines and processing plants in Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Meghalaya as part of the eleventh plan. “The proposed mine at Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh involves extraction of 3,000 tonnes of uranium per day from underground mines spread over 879 hectares,” said the study done from August to November. Quoting members of the non-profit Mines, Minerals and People, the study said for a uranium concentration of 0.039 per cent, the waste to be disposed of would amount to nearly a million tonnes per year.

The waste rock generated by uranium mining contains a significant amount of radioactivity.

“No inventory seems to have been maintained on how this radioactive waste is utilized and where it has gone.”

said Upasana Choudhry, the key researcher of the study. This waste was reportedly given to people for construction of houses and roads, but that has officially stopped now.

Processing the ore generates slurry called tailings. In Jadugoda, waste ponds in which these tailings are dumped as well as tailing pipes that occasionally burst are occupational hazards. A tailing pipe burst on August 16, 2008, near the Dugridih village in Jadugoda, spewing it with uranium waste.

Nuclear waste management practices in India are governed by the Atomic Energy Act 1962, which states that there should be no human settlement within five kilometres of a waste site or uranium tailing pond. “Even though Jadugoda has been in operation for more than 30 years, seven villages are within one-and-a-half kilometres of the danger zone. Dugridih begins just 40 metres away,” it added.

“UCIL mines at Jadugoda makes use of a ‘revolving door’ contractor arrangement, whereby workers are dismissed as soon as they show signs of increased radiation doses,” the study said, quoting the non-profit Jharkhandi Organisation Against Radiation. The organization works with tribals in the seven villages near the tailing pipes.

According to a survey conducted in 1999 by the organization in the seven villages, 47 per cent of the women respondents reported disruptions in menstrual cycle, 18 per cent said they had suffered miscarriages or given birth to stillborn babies in the past five years, 30 per cent reported fertility problems and nearly all women complained of fatigue, weakness and depression. “The most visible impact of the mine has been deformed children,” the survey said.

In another development, the Central Empowered Committee, which advises the supreme court on forest-related cases, recommended that mines, steel plant and captive port— POSCO‘s proposed projects—should be considered as one and reviewed in entirety for its ecological significance and rehabilitation plans rather than as three different projects. POSCO filed an affidavit in the apex court on January 4, contesting the recommendations and asking for separate clearances for its three “separate’ projects. The case will come up for hearing in the third week of January.

While POSCO officials haven’t agreed to the people’s demands of sharing the company’s profits yet, the Orissa government is planning to set up a high-level committee to discuss them. The villagers also want Rs 25 lakh per acre for their agricultural land and Rs 40 lakh per acre for their homestead land. Other demands include job guarantee, Rs 1,000-monthly allowance to people above 60 and Rs 3,000 per month for families who do not have members eligible for jobs, including the landless who were employed as daily wagers in the betel farms.

The demands were finalized in a meeting organized by Damodar Rout, a local MLA.

“The 52-member committee I formed has made the demand. The state government will take a final decision after the demarcation survey is done. However, it appears unlikely that the company will share its profits with people,’ Rout said.

When officials went for the survey, the villagers did not allow them to do it. They said their demands must be fulfilled first. The survey has been put off for an indefinite period.

Under duress Activists from Orissa Bachao Andolan (oba), a protesting organization, say the demands have been made by “so-called POSCO supporters’ only, mostly in the Nuagaon panchayat.

“The talk of 5 per cent share in profits is a rumour. Some people had earlier demanded Rs 14 lakh per acre for their agricultural land and a two-room house with all amenities. But POSCO officers rejected the demands saying they were exorbitant. The officers told them to come up with a charter of demands, which they have now,’ says Nikunj Bhutia of oba.

People of three panchayats—Dhinkia, Nuagaon and Gandhakujanga—have been protesting against land acquisition for the steel plant and a captive port for POSCO since July 2005. Activists also say people gave in to POSCO because of the threats and punishments they were being subjected to after the villages were cordoned in November last year (see ‘POSCO war’, Down To Earth, December 31, 2007). SP Mishra, public relations officer of the Orissa governor, says the imbroglio will be resolved soon. “A lot of time has been lost and constructions have to begin by April. So, the government may give in to the demands,’ he said.