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“ One of the central problems in the debate about the nuclear fuel cycle, is
ignorance “
Dr. Stella Swanson, research scientist.
With the Indigenous people of the world raising the question of radiation at
uranium mine sites, the nuclear debate is taking a new turn. The subject of radiation
at uranium mine sites, never received due attention in the nuclear debate, probably
because uranium is not mined where the debaters live. 80% of the world’s uranium
mines, are on the lands of the Indigenous people1, here in India 100% of our uranium
is being mined in Jharkhand and Meghalaya (1997), -both being Indigenous
homelands. But radioactivity recognizes no class, caste or State boundaries, and the
long term affects of radiation from uranium mining on public health and future are so
serious that every thinking person has got to know and measure the risks involved.
This presentation is a case for concern. 2
Uranium Mining:
Uranium is a metal and like any other metal is found in the earth (also on the
ocean beds) in extremely tiny proportions in the form of uranium ore. In the
Jadugora, Narwaphar & Batin mines in Singhbhum, Jharkhand (Bihar), uranium is
mined from underground mines, 1600 – 2000 ft. below the surface. Here the ratio of
the mineral to the ore is only .02%. Uranium extraction and its production are a
State monopoly under the control of the Uranium Corporation of India Ltd., UCIL
coming under the Department of Atomic Energy.
After being mined the ore is brought to the surface and sent to a Mill which
‘purifies’ it. This is done by a chemical process called leaching, where an acid or an
alkaline (depending on the pH factor) is poured over heaps of the ore taking the
uranium concentrate to its bottom. This uranium concentrate commonly called
‘yellow cake’ is packed and sent over a thousand km, to the Nuclear Fuel Complex at
Hyderabad for further purification into fuel rods (see fig. 1).
purification stage in the Mill, only the uranium is extracted, 85% of these radioactive
elements still remain in the tailings2. all of which are extremely harmful to living
things. The most important of these are:
Thorium-230, radium-226, radon-222 (radon gas) and the radon progeny
including polonium 210. 3
These highly radioactive tailings have a very long life, (see figure 2) going into
thousands of years. The longest of them thorium-230 whose half life (what is half life?
See fig. 2) is 80,000 years, in human terms, forever. It decays to produce radium-226,
which in turn produces radon gas. To understand and comprehend the question of
pollution in uranium mining, it is very important to learn about the behaviour of these
radioactive metals, but before that let us see what exactly is radiation.
What is Radiation?
Science teaches us that everything is made of tiny little particles called atoms.
They are too small to be seen even under a powerful microscope. When a substance
is radioactive it means that its atoms are exploding (sub-microscopically) and
throwing off pieces of themselves with great force. This process is called ‘radioactive
decay’. During radioactive decay two types of tiny electrically charged particles are
given off traveling very fast. They are alpha and beta. Some radioactive materials are
alpha emitters, and others are beta emitters. In addition to alpha and beta, highly
energetic rays called gamma rays are also emitted. Gamma rays are not material
particles at all, but a form of pure energy, very similar to a x-rays travelling at the
speed of light. Radiation is dangerous because it can do great harm to a living cell by
breaking its chemical bonds at random and disrupting the cell’s genetic instruction.
That is how you develop cancers.
In uranium mining you have external radiation and internal radiation. Internal
radiation is of particular concern, because most of the chemical emissions in uranium
mining are from Alpha particles. In internal radiation, Alpha particles like canon balls
have less penetrating power, but more impact, and right now is of more concern to us
as we debate the uranium mining issue. They stay inside our bodies and from within
our bodies they continue their decay process, damaging cells, and obviously the life of
their host i.e. the miner, whose life is just a fraction of their half-life
For exposure to radiation you have to have contact with the chemical
emission. Exposure is through breathing, eating or drinking, or skin contact. For
radiation to have a harmful effect on health it depends on: -the impact of the doze;
-how much for how long; -the route into your body, -other chemicals to which you
are exposed to, and your individual characteristics, sex, age, nutrition status, family
traits, life style and state of health.
Thorium-230 one of the metals left back in the tailings is a uranium decay
product with the longest lifetime (see fig. 2), it decays to produce Radium-226.
The discoverer of radium, and Nobel laureate, Madame Curie and her
daughter died of cancer. In the first half of this century radium was used to make a
luminous paint, i.e. used in watch dials, that glows in the dark. Many young women
who used the paint in their work died from cancers of the bone or head. Microscopic
amounts of radium that were unintentionally swallowed, by licking the paintbrush,
caused the bone cancers. The head cancers resulted from radon gas generated from
the ingested radium inside the women’s bodies. It is even considered dangerous to
wear a watch with radium painted dials, because some of the radium decay products
give off intense gamma rays even more powerful than x-rays. Because radium kills
living cells in the body, it is sometimes used in cancer therapy, to destroy unwanted
tumors.
Radon-222 the gas and its progenies are a very powerful carcinogenic agent,
even small doses over a long time can cause lung cancer. The underground miner is
constantly exposed to radon gas, which is an inert gas, odorless, heavier than air and
stays at the mine bed until sucked up into the atmosphere by exhaust machines, where
it floats around the habitat. Uranium mills and mines are always built close together
to cut transport cost and therefore this radon gas from the mines and the tailing ponds
keeps floating around the townships and villages. Radon also dissolves easily in
water and can thus be carried into the wells and ponds of the villagers. Since mining
discharges a lot of under ground water this is one of the chief ways in which
radioactive waste enters the food chain and affects human health (see fig. 3).
Radon has a comparatively short half-life 3.8 days, but in this short time it can
travel thousands of miles, and do immense damage. Because radon is radioactive, it
decays, producing seven radioactive decay products called radon progeny; bismuth,
polonium and lead being among them. These solid radioactive materials attach
themselves to tiny dust particles and droplets of water vapour floating in the air.
Radon gas is exhaled as easily as it is inhaled but the accompanying radon progenies
(bismuth, polonium and lead) stay back, in the linings of the lungs, virtually
‘bombarding’ the delicate bronchial tissues with alpha, beta and gamma rays.
Bismuth and lead emit beta particles and intense gamma rays, while Polonium emits
alpha particles that may irreparably damage the bronchial tissue. Polonium-210 is a
known carcinogen and from the lungs it can also enter the blood stream and
eventually lead to blocked arteries causing cardio-vascular problems. There is no
known filter or gas mask for radon.
For these above reasons, uranium mining’s contribution to the increase in the
radioactivity of this planet has become a very important factor in the nuclear debate.
We have to know about the risk of uranium tailings and how they are stored and if
there is ever a safe way of storing them.
Besides the quality (radioactivity) of the tailings, the other question is their
quantity. For the production of uranium huge amounts of radioactive waste solid,
liquid and gases are created (see fig.3). We have an IAEA warning that says: ‘Here we
have an industry, in which the number of deaths attributable to radiation, far
exceeds that in all other parts of the nuclear industry put together’4. The method
of storage and the improbability of a safe storage, for those thousand of years have a
implication for our future generations and therefore we must not leave this important
matter to the politicians and the ‘managers’ of uranium companies.
Apart from dumping radioactive waste from the mines and mill, Jadugora 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 at Hyderabad is brought back to be dumped in the tailing dams of
Jadugora. The activists of Jharkhandi’s Organisation Against Radiation J.O.A.R.,
claim that radioactive waste from other centers of the country, are also brought here to
be dumped, this includes ‘radio medicines’ (gamma radiation) and their containers.
The activists claim that villagers would pick up the containers and use them for
domestic purposes. After protest, UCIL says that such radio-medical wastes are no
longer dumped here. But the J.O.A.R activists claim that after their protests, the
management has been crushing this waste in the Mill and sending it down the pipe
into the tailing ponds.
depth of 30 ft, 15 miles from the dam, many of the Indigenous Navajos lost their
farms and livestock and had to be resettled.
In 1981 the Dumridih dam (Jadugora) burst, the effects of the spill will never
be known, Nichia village lies at the bottom of the dam, till last year the UCIL
management was still trying to ‘repair the damage’ with bolder reinforcement. UCIL
has been constructing these dams, on the rice fields of the Adivasis. While their fields
are being requisitioned, their residential plots are not, thus compelling the villagers to
live beside the dam7. A National Report ‘Toxic Waste and Race in USA’, shows that
such waste are conveniently dumped in areas populated largely by the non-white
communities8. Can not these acts of our department of Atomic Energy, BARC and
UCIL be considered as racist? Is this the way we treat the Indigenous communities
–our first people?
Process chemicals:
Radioactive materials are not the only hazardous component of a uranium
wastes. Also of concern are heavy metals, which are a potential problem with any
type of mining (i.e. Bauxite, Copper). These are the process chemicals. ‘Tailings also
contain concentration of lead, zinc, manganese, cadmium and arsenic. Elements such
as these do not decrease in toxicity with time, since there is no decay process, they
simply last forever10.
Most of the liquid waste from these mines, mills and tailing dams eventually
land up in the small streams and rivulets feeding the Subarnarekha river. The World
Bank’s plan ‘The Subarnarekha Multi Purpose Project’, of a garland chain of dams
and canals along the river, through the States of Bihar, West Bengal and Orissa, is
going to be a convenient delivery system to take radioactive waste, through three
major States and then finally into the Bay of Bengal.
effects of low dose and low dose rates. For example it has been shown that a certain
dose of alpha emitters can cause a higher incidence of cancer if given in smaller doses
over a protracted period.11 The article quotes the pioneering work done by Dr. Alice
Stewart ‘The child of a mother x-rayed during the pregnancy is more likely to die of
leukemia by a factor of 1.5-2.0’. Dr. Stewart’s study was previously much disputed
by the pro-establishment scientist when it appeared in 1950. However two recent
studies have confirmed Dr Stewart’s findings, Prof. Mole an eminent radiologist
predicts that a child irradiated as a foetus has a 1 to 2000 chance of developing
leukemia. This compares with a natural rate of 1 in 4000.
‘We are now seeing a complete turn about in the way of thinking of those
authorities such as the International Commission of Radiological Protection ICRP,
regarding the effects of low-dose radiation.12 To the argument of the nuclear
establishment, that the levels of radon in the more exposed homes are considerable
higher than would be found in the neighbourhood of nuclear plants, Peter Bunyard in
the same article further argues, ‘True but a natural bad does not exonerate its man-
made equivalent secondly and no less important. radon gas may have a natural origin,
but its coming into contact with human beings is largely anthropogenic’
And just how are standards set? ‘The first radon exposure standard was set for
radium dial painters. However when uranium mining got underway in the ‘50’s, it
became apparent that commercial mines could not operate if such a level were
enforced so the standard was set ten times higher13.
Impact on biosphere.
There has been no published impact assessment study of the effects of
radioactivity on the biosphere in Jadugora, here again we have to rely on studies done
abroad at other uranium mining sites. However a remarkable, young journalist Rana
S. Gautam, working as the bureau chief of Times of India group at Jamshedpur, on his
personal initiative, got Dr. N.K. Upadhya15 to do an independent study16.
(In Simpson index the range is 1 to 0.1, the lower index value
is indicator of good ecological condition, on the other hand
in Shannon index it is just opposite)
3. Bio-magnification – through the food chain of radioactive
substances.
While the above are the main findings of this study, Rana S. Gautam in his
well documented three part article in the TOI (Oct. 97) quotes a 85 year old tribal,
“The white-yellow seeds in some Kendu fruit have vanished, this was not so when I
was young”. The article further quotes a callous comment by a scientist of the on
site ‘Health and Physics unit of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre BARC “Even in
cases of papaya you would find some fruits without seeds”. Regarding this issue of
genetic changes, in the same article Dr. Upadhaya say’s “without cyto-chemical test,
it would be difficult to pin point the reason”
Rana S Gautam further quotes a Bihar State Pollution Control Board (BSPCB)
official “ In fact the BSPCB chief here, Mr. Manikant Prasad gives a clean chit to
UCIL, ‘Nothing wrong with the environment’ he insists, Sources in their office point
out that the Board goes by the figures provided by the UCIL. ‘We don’t have the
equipment or trained staff to check radiation’ concedes Mr. Prasad”.
Health hazards:
In 1546 in the Central Europe mountain region, miners of uranium ore, were
reported to have an unusually high frequency of fatal lung disease, then they called it
‘mountain illness’. ‘Cases of lung cancer in uranium miners were first clinically and
anatomically diagnosed in Germany in 187918. Despite ample further reports of
deaths of uranium miners in the following years, little notice was taken by the
scientific community to established relation between ultimate lung cancer and
radiation exposure in uranium mining in particular.
Besides the radioactive risks to health there are the risks from the processing
and non-radioactive toxic compounds associated with uranium deposits. Rarely is the
risk of these diseases taken into account in cost/benefit analyses for stricter control of
uranium tailings and ground water protection20.
Therefore the health risks for the Miners varies from the Mill workers, as the
Miners are more exposed to radon and the mill workers to uranium, Thorium and
radium.
In the USA, Canada and Australia, the Miners Unions are demanding a
reduction of the Work Level Months WLM., this is the method of calculating the time
of exposure of the miner or the mill worker. 4 WLM per year would be compared to
1200 chest x-rays to the lung per year, as 1 WLM per year = 30,000 mrem per year;
one chest x-ray = 25 mrem21. At 4 WLM per year if a miner works for 30 years he
would receive a 120 WLM life time doses. But two scientific studies show increased
lung cancer in miners with lifetime exposure in the 30-50 WLM (lifetime) range. To
determine if a reduction in radon standards was appropriate, the National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health NIOSH USA conducted a review of the world’s
literature on the hazards of radon, the report says: “…..there is strong evidence of
substantial risk at below 120 Cumulative WLM of exposure to radon.22”. This report
besides its many important recommendations (which are to date not heeded)
concluded ‘ a lifetime dose of only 44 WLM is estimated to double the risk of fatal
lung cancer among miners’.
In India we have as yet to assess the damage on the environment and the
people living around Jadugora. UCIL does not provide any medical care to non-
employees, even though the presence of their mining activities has direct effect on the
health of the people living there. We have with us ample evidence to show cause and
effect. But modern ‘science’ that is so sub-servant to mega-technology, will only
ridicule our ‘findings’ even though, for us and a majority of our people they are the
life and death stories of relatives, friends.
Conclusion:
There is no ‘safe way’ of mining uranium or storing these gigantic
quantities of radioactive waste for infinity. We can only reduce the risk of
exposure and there by hope to reduce some deaths, to make our statistics look
reasonable. Even if the extraction of uranium (like asbestos) are banned today,
with the volume of radioactive tailings already existing on this earth, it would be
extremely difficult to keep them from effecting our biosphere and the
generations to come.
I would like to close with an important quote from John Bellamy Foster’s great
book ‘The Vulnerable Planet’23:
“One of the basic contradictions of the capitalist economy, according to radical
philosopher Istavn Meszaros, ‘is that it cannot separate advance from destruction, nor
progress from waste -- however catastrophic the results”.
B.I.R.S.A.
(Mining Concerns Desk)
Village Duccasai – P.O. Noamundi – Jharkhand 833 217. INDIA.