The Centre on Tuesday sought to quell protests by locals in Kolar, Karnataka, against reports of earmarking abandoned gold mines of the district for dumping nuclear waste. The government clarified before the Supreme Court that it was not considering the spot for such purposes. “The NPCIL is filing the present supplementary affidavit to clarify the matter as follows. Nothing stated in para 26 of the affidavit or otherwise should be read to suggest that NPCIL has identified Kolar Gold Mine of BGML located in south India as one of the sites for storage of nuclear waste,” stated the affidavit by the plant operator, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited.