MYDLOVARY, South Bohemia, Feb 26, 2001 -- (CTK - Czech News Agency) Even though the controversial Temelin nuclear power station is not working to its full extent yet, local inhabitants have already been facing radioactivity from nearby radioactive mud traps for a long time, the daily Mlada fronta Dnes writes today.

Thirty-six million tons of radioactive mud, covering 260 hectares, have been located ten kilometers from Temelin, south Bohemia, for three years. The environmental burden is a relic of the former uranium processor MAPE Mydlovary, the daily writes. The biggest freely accessible mud trap, containing remains of uranium, radium and acid salts, has remained almost unnoticed in the shadow of Temelin, the daily writes. "The mud traps endanger people and biosphere in the surroundings gradually and permanently. This is their biggest danger," Eva Hlasova from the environmentalist movement South Bohemian Mothers tells the daily.

Vaclav Plojhar from the Uranium Deposits Administration belonging to the state-owned Diamo company is, however, of the opposite opinion: "The mud traps in Mydlovary, of course, have a negative impact on the environment as every industrial activity has, but they do not exceed the permitted health limits." According to Diamo's Pavel Stary, the main danger of the muds comes from the air - mainly the radon gas, which causes lung cancer, and ionizing radiation, and also a small amount of the gama-radiation and dust containing radium and arsenic.

"Even though the ionizing radiation increases radioactivity, it does not directly endanger lives," says Karel Jindrich from the State Authority for Nuclear Safety whose team regularly checks radioactivity in the area. According to Jindrich, there will be no danger even after Temelin is put into full operation. Radiation from the mud traps reaches only one fifth of the permitted limits, and the power station is to radiate one sixth at the most, he says. "So even if you count it together, the radiation will still be under the permitted limit," he adds. Another danger is hidden under the surface - the radioactive mud is accumulated in former lignite mines without any insulation and in some places harmful chemicals penetrate underground water, the daily writes.

According to a report by the firm Aquatest, which regularly checks samples of water in the area, the contaminants are also radioactive. Environmentalists fear the water will penetrate local people's wells, the daily writes. According to Diamo's Pavel Urban, the mud is to be recultivated by 2040 at the latest. Environmentalists and local inhabitants, however, complain about the slow speed of the recultivation. Diamo representatives explain that everything depends on the money the state provides them. Usually it is 6-30 million crowns annually.

"We are solving the recultivation of areas where uranium was mined and processed at 18 places in the Czech Republic and we have to distribute money from the state budget according to how risky the places are," says Diamo's
Kamila Trojackova.

((c) 2001 CTK - Czech News Agency)