November 8, 2000, in the San Jose Mercury News
Health fears haunt India's uranium quest
GRIM SCENE: IN VILLAGE NEAR SLUDGE POND, MANY BLAME MINES FOR DEFORMITIES AND ILLNESSES.
http://www0.mercurycenter.com/premium/world/docs/uranium08.htm
BY NEELESH MISRA
Associated Press

JADUGUDA, India -- Deep in the heart of a grassy valley, thousands of laborers are helping build India's nuclear dreams at the country's only uranium mining complex.

Two miles away, deformed children play in small clay huts.

Anti-nuclear activists say the two images are linked -- that radiation from three mines and ponds of uranium sludge is causing disease, physical abnormalities and death among thousands of indigenous people in Bihar, one of India's poorest and least developed states.

Government officials, the mine operators and some radiation experts deny the uranium complex has caused medical problems for the 4,500 employees or the tens of thousands of people living nearby. They blame inbreeding, malnutrition and unsanitary health practices.

There are only a few qualified doctors in the region, and no extensive, independent studies have been made. The mine operators and the activists even report different levels of radiation in the area.

The dispute over possible dangers could spread to other regions as the government steps up its hunt for new sources of uranium. But anti-nuclear activists have only a feeble voice in India, partly because there is little awareness of nuclear issues.

India, which does not import uranium, needs more fuel for its 12 existing and 16 planned nuclear power plants. Nuclear power supplies about 3 percent of India's electricity today and is planned to provide 10 percent by 2005.

The government also needs fuel for its atomic weapons program, which it considers necessary for defense in a region where two of its neighbors, Pakistan and China, have nuclear arms.

But for anti-nuclear activists, health threats outweigh those desires.

Near Jaduguda, activists guided Associated Press journalists to villages near the mining complex where children with deformities live alongside healthy children.

In Bango, a village two miles from a pond full of uranium tailings, 3-year-old Helligo Gop walked silently toward her family's mud house, holding the hand of her younger brother, Haradhan. The children, who have Down's syndrome, gasped after a few steps and sat down to rest, still holding hands.

Bijoy Gop, 5, struggled as he drew a pair of feet on the dusty floor of the village temple. He has only stubs for fingers and toes.

He was surrounded by friends with other afflictions. Kamal Lochan, 5, cannot speak. Rupa, Kamal's 10-year-old sister, is deaf. Sudhakar Gop, 6, cannot hear or speak.

Activists say deformed children are found in many villages in the region; they blame the mine operations.

Ian Hore-Lacy, general manager of the Uranium Information Center in Melbourne, Australia, which is financed by companies involved in uranium exploration, mining and export, disagrees that the health problems are related to radiation.

In a response to questions by e-mail, he said, ``Radiation is not known to cause deformities, or Down syndrome, in humans, except possibly from reasonably high doses, for example from an atom bomb.''

R.K. Gupta, chairman of the state Uranium Corp. of India Ltd., denied any links between the mines and health problems, and accused some activists of raising false charges because of their opposition to India's development of atomic weapons.

``Some people are trying to misrepresent our position because of the country's nuclear program,'' Gupta said.

The task of activists is made harder by tough laws that limit most nuclear-related investigation and research to government agencies.

The first independent study to assess possible radiation hazards in Jaduguda began in July. Surendra Gadekar, a physicist formerly with the prestigious Indian Institute of Science who finances his own studies, took radiation readings at several places.

The background radiation in Jaduguda town was normal, while readings at the tailings ponds were several times higher than normal, said Gadekar, who also is studying the possible effects of radiation in areas around several nuclear power plans. But he said levels were 50 times higher than normal near a playground next to an air vent from the mine.

Uranium Corp. said its laboratory regularly takes radiation readings at 30 different places in the area, including the playground. The laboratory's head, Giridhar Jha, said the readings are a little higher than normal, but not harmful.

Globally, the average background radiation level is about the equivalent of getting 30 chest X-rays a year. The average Indian background radiation level equals about 26 X-rays a year. In Jaduguda, according to Uranium Corp. laboratory's own figures, the background radiation level is about 38 chest X-rays a year.

At the mines, one of them 4,455 feet deep, the ore is crushed, chemically treated and refined. ``Yellow cakes'' of uranium are then loaded into barrels on trains and sent to a nuclear facility in Hyderabad, about 900 miles away, for further processing.

The tailings are sent back to Jaduguda to be dumped as sludge into ponds spread across 150 acres.

Gupta, the Uranium Corp. chairman, and other government officials say children's abnormalities are from severe malnutrition and lack of primary health care in the area, where living standards are the lowest in Bihar.

Thalassemia, a disease that causes deficiency in hemoglobin and that some health activists attribute to radiation, is caused by years of inbreeding among the tribes people, the area's highest local official, Nidhi Khare, argues.

Xavier Dias of the Jaduguda Organization Against Radiation said the local population of about 50,000 is vulnerable to cancer, impotence, skin diseases, Down's syndrome and other disorders. Dias said women in Jaduguda suffer miscarriages and give birth to stillborn or deformed babies.

However, there are few qualified doctors in the area, and no good estimates of how many people are suffering from those problems.

Until a few years ago, people in Jaduguda bathed in the tailings ponds, cattle grazed on the shores and children played soccer close to the tailings, said Dr. N.K. Upadhyay, an environmental biologist. He is studying the area to back a case filed in India's Supreme Court this year by the Jaduguda Organization Against Radiation.

Even now, villagers take home ore and the drums used to transport tailings, said Ghanshyam Biruli, a tribal leader who heads the anti-radiation group.

Dr. Arjun Soren of Bhatin village, one of the few people from the area who has a medical degree, suspects radiation is a problem.

``My aunt died of cancer of the gall bladder. My nephew has thalassemia,'' he said.

Soren was diagnosed with leukemia in July 1999. ``Radiation could be the only reason. I spent my childhood here,'' he said.

Gupta, the Uranium Corp. chairman, said all workers are provided with gloves, masks, helmets, boots and ear muffs to protect them against radiation.

Saluka Ho, a miner who has loaded uranium ore since 1992, said protective measures are not so stringent.

``One week in the year is safety week -- then they give respirators. Otherwise, the gloves and all are for the bosses only,'' said Ho, lying on a bed in a courtyard near his hut. A local doctor said Ho has tuberculosis.

Uranium Corp., which started work in Jaduguda in 1968, is facing opposition elsewhere as it looks for new mining sites.

Dias fears Uranium Corp. will move on soon and leave the area to clean up on its own.

``Since the ore in other parts is much better, we fear the UCIL will shut down the Jaduguda mines and leave the waste here forever,'' he said.