By Ace Puri The debate has been raging back and forth about the economic benefits and the health hazards associated with uranium mining in the state. What compounds the complexity and confusion of the debate is a lack of clear understanding of the uranium mining process and its attendant implications on health. This article is an attempt to demystify the various aspects of the uranium mining lifecycle and therefore help the members of the public make an informed opinion about this issue. Uranium, like iron or aluminum or copper, is a naturally occurring metallic element. However, unlike iron or aluminum, uranium possesses a very interesting property called radioactivity. Like most metallic elements it is found in nature not in its pure but in the form of ores which are basically mixtures of the element with other impurities like stones, clay, sand etc. More importantly, unlike iron or aluminum, uranium occurs in very small quantities in the ore (about 0.1 % of the ore found in Meghalaya) and therefore the mining process for uranium is a two-stage process. First the ore is mined and then this ore is processed in the mining area itself to produce an oxide of uranium called the 'yellow cake'. It is in the form of yellow cake that the uranium is transported away from the mining area to be processed further for use in nuclear reactors (for generation of power) or even in nuclear weapons. The type of mining proposed by UCIL (Uranium Corporation of India Limited) for uranium in Meghalaya is open cast mining. In this method of mining, the overburden, which is the soil and rock on top of the ore, is removed exposing the ore below. The exposed ore is then lifted and taken to the mills for processing into yellow cake. At the mills, the ore is crushed and treated with strong chemicals like acids or alkalis to leach out the uranium. After filtering and drying of this solution the yellowcake is obtained. The yellowcake produced by most modern mills is actually brown or black, not yellow; the name comes from the colour and texture of the concentrates produced by early mining operations. Representatives of the UCIL and the AEC (Atomic Energy Commission) have consistently stated that uranium mining is completely safe while a number of NGOs have maintained that it actually poses grave health hazards to the miners, the people living close to the mining areas and the environment as well. Where does the truth lie? What are the actual facts about uranium mining? The answer is surprisingly not that complex. Uranium, as stated earlier, possesses an interesting property called radioactivity. Unlike other metals like copper or gold, uranium is not a stable metal. It is called a heavy metal and spontaneously disintegrates into smaller daughter elements while giving out radiation. This spontaneous disintegration accompanied with radiation is called radioactivity and it is this property of uranium that makes it a health hazard, since the radiation is harmful to the human body. In uranium mining, it is not just the radiation from uranium but also from other elements such as radon gas, radium and thorium that pose health hazards. The latter elements normally occur side by side with uranium. The deleterious effects of radiation on health usually appear in the form of blood cancers, chronic kidney disease and nonmalignant lung diseases among miners and mill workers. Incidence of lung cancer deaths among those working in a uranium mining environment is also higher than expected. The latter elements normally occur side by side with uranium. The deleterious effects of radiation on health usually appear in the form of blood cancers, chronic kidney disease and nonmalignant lung diseases among miners and mill workers. Incidence of lung cancer deaths among those working in a uranium mining environment is also higher than expected. The waste products or leftovers from the milling process (for production of the yellowcake) are called tailings. The tailings are normally collected in one large dam called the tailing dam. Due to the low concentration of uranium in the ore, a large amount of tailing is produced for a relatively small amount of yellowcake. Tailings contain radioactive dust and emit radon gas. Though some may argue that the radiation hazard from the tailings is small when compared with other radioactive wastes, yet it is widely agreed that there is no such thing as safe level of radiation exposure. Containment of the tailings in the tailing dam is therefore the single most important issue if safety from radiation and contamination is to be assured. But the question is how the tailings can be contained in the dam. During heavy rains, the tailing dam could be flooded and the toxic tailings could be carried away by the rain water contaminating all water sources downstream. During the dry and windy season, the radioactive tailings could be borne away by the wind. The tailing can also seep into the ground contaminating groundwater. Meghalaya being in a very seismically sensitive zone would mean that the tailing dam may breach in case of earthquakes. For containment of tailings in the tailing dam, the dam would first of all need to be lined with say six inch of concrete to prevent seepage. Then it would need to be covered to prevent winds carrying away the tailings and also to prevent rainwater from flowing into the dam. Again, the dam itself would have to be structurally earthquake proof to withstand any seismic activity. All these features for the dam will have to be in place for thousands of years because the tailing dam will be radioactively toxic for thousands of years, given the relatively long half life of uranium. Putting these safety features for the tailing dam would render the uranium mining project economically unviable for UCIL and therefore serious health hazards are inevitable for the local populace. No matter what the proponents of uranium mining say, safety and economic viability are mutually exclusive; one and only one thing can be achieved. The second most important safety issue concerns the mines themselves. Will the mines be covered up once the ore is extracted, and whether this covering process would be done in such a way to ensure that no radioactive particles are left uncovered? The third issue and a very critical one indeed is whether radioactive wastes from nuclear reactors will be brought back to Meghalaya and dumped into the tailing dams as is done in tailing dams elsewhere in the country? Nuclear waste from the reactors is many times more radioactive than the tailings and it is a well known fact that proper disposal of the nuclear waste is a major problem for all countries generating electricity through nuclear power. In fact the problem of disposal of nuclear waste has been a chief deterrent to the growth of power stations using nuclear energy in the developed countries. So trying to solve this problem by simply dumping nuclear wastes into tailing dams is a grossly negligent and heartless act that cannot be justified by any means. While UCIL might promise 100 per cent compliance to modern safety standards of mining, how many are actually convinced that this compliance would be practically possible once mining operations start? Who will audit compliance with safety standards during mining? Will representatives of civil society be able to intervene in case of clear violation of standards or will the whole mining operation be carried as a military exercise complete with military personnel guarding every aspect of the mining and milling operation? What will happen once the mining is done? Who will ensure containment of tailings after the mines have been worked? Is the UCIL really ready to invest in the safety of the entire mining lifecycle while ensuring that it can get returns on its investments? Or is the assurance of safety just an excuse to start mining operations and once started the whole thing would be out of the control of civil society? It is a known fact that nuclear reactors for power generation across the country are running at well below capacity due to the paucity of nuclear fuel namely uranium. It would have been extremely gratifying to all Meghalayans if Meghalaya could help alleviate this condition by allowing mining of uranium in the state. And, in fact, it would make the people of the state very proud to able to contribute by making available such a strategic mineral for the economic development of the country. However the price for this, to be paid to by the people of the state in terms of health loss for many generations, is way too high to justify the economic gains. The promise of immediate gains for the local populace in terms of the hundreds of crores of investment seem tempting but the ultimate cost would be too much too bear.