URANIUM CRISIS

Uranium Corporation of India Limited has come up against a big hurdle on the way to helping the country achieve its ambitious power generation target for the next decade. The governments of Andhra Pradesh and Meghalaya, where it has discovered deposits of uranium, the fuel for the 13 indigenous Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors, have avoided granting no-objection certificates for mining the ore. Besides, sections of the local populations have come out strongly against UCIL's plans. T.S. Subram anian visited the proposed mining sites in Nalgonda district in Andhra Pradesh with S. Ramu and the Singhbhum belt in Jharkhand and the Wakhyn forest area in Meghalaya with Suhrid Sankar Chattopadhyay.

INDIA'S nuclear power programme is heading for a crisis. Natural uranium, the fuel that drives 13 Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) in the country, is in short supply. It is also the starting block for the country's Fast Breeder Reactors (FBR) and the thorium-fuelled reactors of the future.

The generation target set to be achieved by the year 2020 is 20,000 MWe of nuclear power. Of this, the share of indigenous PHWRs has been pegged at 10,000 MWe. This target may be impossible to achieve given the dwindling indigenous supplies of uranium because of what is seen as the intransigence of the Meghalaya and Andhra Pradesh governments in granting no-objection certificates (NOCs) to the proposals of Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) to mine natural uranium in these States and set up mills to process the ore into yellowcake or magnesium diuranate.

The Meghalaya Pollution Control Board has not taken even the preliminary step of organising a public hearing for establishing two mines and a mill, while the Andhra Pradesh government has merely forwarded to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) UCIL's proposal to set up three mines. The Andhra Pradesh government's letter to the MoEF contained neither an NOC for the mines nor any comments on the subject. The MoEF, therefore, sought detailed clarifications from UCIL and has reportedly granted clearance for the mines in the State.

If the short supply of uranium continues, India may be forced to import the ore. However, imports would be possible only if the 44-member Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) relaxes its guidelines, which could be contingent on India separating its civilian and military nuclear facilities and putting the former under the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The nuclear establishment may not be averse to importing uranium to run its PHWRs. Dr. Anil Kakodkar, Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and Secretary to the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), said in an interview to Frontline (issue dated September 9): "If I get natural uranium in plenty from outside, then we can construct more PHWRs... for which we have the technology. You can visualise PHWR capacity much larger than 10,000 MWe. This additional capacity, which can get sustained out of imported [natural uranium] fuel, no problem in putting under safeguards."

But the issue could prove to be a political hot potato, as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh realised not so long ago. His joint statement with President George Bush of the United States in New York on July 18 signalling just such a course of action kicked off a controversy in India.

India has eight nuclear reactors under construction, the largest number anywhere in the world - in Rajasthan, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. Of these, five are PHWRs, which need a steady supply of uranium. The remaining are the FBR at Kalpakkam and two Russian Light Water Reactors at Kudankulam, both in Tamil Nadu. The construction of the 300 MWe thorium-fuelled Advanced Heavy Water Reactor will begin next year and the Union Cabinet has cleared the construction of four indigenous PHWRs of 700 MWe capacity each at Kakrapar in Gujarat and Rawatbhatta in Rajasthan.

Clearly, natural uranium is vital for India's civilian nuclear power needs and the country has proven deposits, in Andhra Pradesh and Meghalaya, to meet the demand. However, the supply of natural uranium has dropped because the DAE is unable to mine these deposits and process them into yellowcake, which is fabricated into fuel bundles at the Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC) in Hyderabad.

Informed sources said UCIL's plans to set up mines and mills had been held hostage to the indecision of the Andhra Pradesh and Meghalaya governments in granting environmental clearance and NOCs.

At present UCIL has only one mill, at Jaduguda in Jharkhand's East Singhbhum district, which produces 220 tonnes of yellowcake a year. The 13 operating PHWRs of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) require about 300 tonnes of yellowcake a year. As a result, the capacity factor of the PHWRs dropped from a world-class 90 per cent in 2002-03 to 81 per cent in 2003-04 and 76 per cent in 2004-05.

That the situation is grim is clear from the fact that in its Mid-Term Appraisal of the Tenth Plan in June the Planning Commission mentioned that the load factor achieved by the nuclear power stations had come down "primarily due to non-availability of nuclear fuel because the development of domestic mines has not kept pace with addition of generating capacity".

AS early as 1991-92, the Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research (AMD), the wing of the DAE that surveys for natural uranium and proves the presence of deposits, had established the presence of uranium deposits at Kylleng-Pyndengsohiong near Mawthabah in the West Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya and at Lambapur in Nalgonda district of Andhra Pradesh. In 2000, it added Peddagattu, also in Nalgonda district and a few kilometres from Lambapur, to the list.

The AMD is working hard to locate more deposits, particularly in Meghalaya. R.M. Sinha, Director, AMD, said: "Our main concentration now, after Singhbhum, is on Meghalaya." The AMD has found reserves at Wakhyn. Sinha is also buoyed by the prospects in Andhra Pradesh. "We were encouraged by what we established at Lambapur. We had always called Lambapur the tip of the iceberg," he said. Sinha is happy that the AMD has received permission to explore in a 10-sq km area of the Rajiv Gandhi Tiger Sanctuary, which is an extension of the Peddagattu plateau. Other potential areas are in Orissa, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

As for mining proven deposits, UCIL has drawn up plans but it cannot go ahead without clearances from the State governments concerned and the Central government. It proposes to set up two open-cast mines and a mill at Kylleng-Pyndengsohiong at a cost of Rs.814 crores and an open-cast mine at Lambapur, two underground mines at Peddagattu and a mill at Seripalle, also in Nalgonda district, at a cost of Rs.550 crores.

In Meghalaya, matters are still in the proposal stage. In Andhra Pradesh, after a delay of one year, the State government merely forwarded UCIL's proposals for excavating mines to the MoEF without saying "yes" or "no", claiming that under "Circular No: J-11011/70/99-IA-11 of the MoEF, State governments are only required to forward a proposal to the Central government".

UCIL had submitted an application regarding its proposals in Andhra Pradesh to the Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board (APPCB) on May 26, 2003. Following this, a public hearing was held at Peddagattu on August 19 that year. The APPCB's Technical Committee scrutinised the details, visited the sites and sought clarifications from UCIL officials. UCIL officials acknowledged that the Technical Committee did "a thorough job". The committee recommended to the APPCB that NOCs could be issued if UCIL took fail-proof steps to protect the environment of the area.

After this, the consent for establishment (CFE) committee came into the picture. It met on January 28, 2004, and sought clarifications from the Technical Committee. The Technical Committee went into the details again and reaffirmed its stand and recommended to the APPCB for the second time that NOCs could be issued. On February 16, the APPCB wrote to UCIL that it had referred the matter to the State government.

Almost a year later, on January 3, 2005, the State government forwarded UCIL's proposals to the MoEF. However, the government's letter did not state its consent nor did it say anything about NOCs for the mines. This put the MoEF in a quandary, for the Andhra Pradesh government's "recommendation" was incomplete without an NOC. The MoEF flagged certain issues, relating to water and air pollution and so on, on its own and sought clarifications from UCIL. The DAE then entrusted the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) with the task of conducting more scientific studies on these aspects. "We created site-specific data" on air and water pollution, radiation and so on, said a DAE official. A report on this was sent to the MoEF.

In October 2005, the MoEF called UCIL officials for a hearing and raised with them critical issues that worried the Andhra Pradesh government. The MoEF was reportedly satisfied with UCIL's clarifications and asked for a written commitment from UCIL that it would conduct elaborate hydro-geological studies at the mine sites (because of their proximity to the Nagarjuna Sagar reservoir).

For the proposed mill at Seripalle, a public hearing was held on March 3, 2005. Anti-nuclear activists, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and residents of the village were present in strength and the residents reportedly demanded that the District Collector, who conducts such hearings, give a decision at once. The APPCB then took the stand that it would not refer UCIL's application for the mill to its Technical Committee unless the MoEF cleared the mines. Subsequently, the APPCB agreed to allow the Technical Committee to examine UCIL's proposal but said the NOC would depend on clearance of the mines. Informed sources said the Technical Committee had consented to the setting up of the mill. The APPCB was expected to give the final consent for the mill once the MoEF gave the clearance for the mines, the sources said.

When Frontline wrote to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy on October 25 on why the State government did not grant the NOC for the mines ever after the Technical Committee of the APPCB had recommended the same, the State government replied that with the Appellate Authority operating in the State, the State government "is stopped" from giving any opinion on UCIL's proposals, according to the provision in Section 29(2) of the Water Act, 1974.

"Besides, we could not give any comment on the subject because more than 50 per cent of the participants in the public hearing had objected to the project coming up at Lambapur and Peddagattu. In these circumstances, according to Circular No: J-11011/70/99-IA-11 of the MoEF, Government of India, State governments are only required to forward a proposal to the Central government," the Andhra Pradesh government's reply said. The CFE committee of the APPCB decided on the recommendation of the Technical Committee, the reply added.

On the APPCB's insistence that the MoEF should clear UCIL's proposals for the mines before the Technical Committee could consider the application for the mill, the State government's reply said the APPCB, being an autonomous body, decided on matters as per the recommendations of its experts/technical committees and it was for the APPCB to take a decision on the matter. "Regarding the processing plant, there was vehement opposition to its revised location, at the public hearing. However, the project proponents may approach the Appellate Authority on the decisions of the APPCB," the reply said.

Asked whether the State government was under pressure from NGOs and the Lambada community not to clear the mines and the mill, the government said "it is under no pressure from the civil society for all the three projects of UCIL".

PEOPLE of the Lambada tribe lead the opposition to the projects in Andhra Pradesh. "We are happy to live amidst these hills. We don't want our lives to be disturbed," said Ramawath Kotti, a Lambada living at Lambapur. They are aggressive, too, about it. Said Ramawath Dastru, an elderly man: "When the AMD personnel came here for exploration and drilled a bore in the hills, we chased them away. We will throw bombs if they come here again."

At Seripalle, one resident, Ramawath Venkatayya, 35, threatened the Frontline team and said: "We will burn your vehicle if you come here again. We are ready to kill and get killed." Ramawath Kanthamma, a Lambada woman, gave a firm "othu" (no) to the "factory". "If any landowner in Seripalle wants to sell his land to UCIL I will pluck out his moustache," she said.

Besides Lambadas, NGOs and naxalites oppose the projects. On December 3, 2003, members of the People's War (now known as Communist Party of India (Maoist)) abducted 26 AMD personnel from the uranium exploration site at K.K. Thanda near Peddagattu. They set fire to two drilling rigs, two trucks, a jeep and some water pumps. They then got the residents of Peddagattu to assemble in the village and, in the presence of the abducted AMD personnel, lectured them on the consequences of uranium mining. The naxalites freed the workers after about four hours.

At Lambapur, Peddagattu and Seripalle NGOs screen video cassettes and compact discs showing the ill-effects of nuclear radiation and how at Jaduguda tribal people have been "affected by radiation from the tailing pond" of the uranium mill there.

There is support, too, for the projects, muted though. N. Badia Naik, a lawyer from Devarakonda near Seripalle, said schools, hospitals and markets would come up if the mill were to come up and jobs would be available. Deep Lal, Ramawath Dharam Singh and Ramawath Gopal Singh argued that the projects would stop the migration of labourers to Hyderabad in search of jobs. Besides, much of the land earmarked for the mill was uncultivable land, they pointed out.

IN Meghalaya, there has been no forward movement on UCIL's application to set up the mines and the mill. The Meghalaya Pollution Control Board (MPCB) has not even called a public hearing on the projects. The Meghalaya government has been sitting on the project for the past three years, said an informed source.

Chief Minister D.D. Lapang reportedly told a top UCIL official who met him in Shillong on October 4 that UCIL should convince the local people about accepting the projects. He also reportedly advised UCIL to conduct public awareness programmes and build a consensus.

Authoritative sources said the Meghalaya government did not want to antagonise the powerful Khasi Students' Union (KSU) and NGOs. Lapang heads a delicate Congress-led coalition government that includes the Khun Hynniewtrep National Awakening Movement (KHNAM), a political party launched by the KSU. The KHNAM has two members in the Assembly.

Samuel Jyrwa, 32, KSU president, said his organisation was opposed to the mining and mill projects on three counts: health hazards from radiation, influx of people from outside, and the alienation of tribal land. "We are a pressure group. We translate our words into action. We will agitate if the mine comes through. We will fight tooth and nail," he said and claimed that Lapang was in favour of the project.

In fact, several landowners at Kylleng-Pyndengsohiong seem to be in favour of selling or leasing their land to UCIL because "it will open the floodgates to development". Philip Marwein, the 48-year-old editor of the monthly magazine Youth Today, alleged that "the State government and the Khasi Hills Autonomous District Council are slaves of indecision because they are afraid of the KSU and the Meghalaya Human Rights Commission".

Heasdingland Lyngdoh Sangrin, a landowner in Mawthabah, echoed Marwein's sentiments: "Development of the region can take place only when UCIL starts mining here." Landowners said the projects would bring schools, hospitals, employment and roads within the reach of the Khasi tribal people there. Sangrin asked, "Why should there be an influx because of the project? Our own people will be given employment. What we want to know is why the government is taking time to give its clearance to the project?" Frontline sent a questionnaire to Lapang on October 25, but has not got a reply.

THE DAE would not have had to face the present crisis had it not shut down two uranium mines in 1992, at Turamdih and Bagjata in East Singhbhum district. The DAE closed them after the Congress government of P.V. Narasimha Rao at the Centre reduced allocations to it. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was the Finance Minister in that government. A former Chairman and Managing Director of NPCIL described Narasimha Rao's tenure as a "disaster" for the DAE.

When contacted about the uranium shortage, Anil Kakodkar said: "We are trying to accelerate the development of mines so that uranium production capacity can be enhanced and we can go ahead with our nuclear power projects." It was important that India should have a fairly large indigenous content in its nuclear power programme, he said. "We must get resources from within the country. This continues to receive attention towards increasing the generation of nuclear power," Kakodkar added.

Asked whether the Meghalaya and Andhra Pradesh governments were not cooperating with UCIL in establishing the mines and mills, the AEC Chairman said: "I will not say that they are not cooperating. There is a process that has to be gone through and we are going through all the processes."

Meanwhile, UCIL is concentrating on a big expansion in East Singhbhum district, which is at the heart of its operations with mines at Jaduguda, Narwapahar, Bhatin and Turamdih. Ramendra Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director of UCIL, said that when the DAE had set for itself a target of generating 20,000 MWe of nuclear power, "the immediate challenge" to UCIL was to augment the production capacities of the existing mines at Jaduguda and Narwapahar besides opening new mines in Singhbhum and other parts of India.

"Money is not a constraint," Gupta said. The Centre has allotted Rs.1,000 crores for the Tenth Plan period (2002-07) for deepening old mines, commissioning new mines and setting up new mills. "We are in an expansion mode. No reactor will be idle" for want of natural uranium fuel, he asserted.

The Jaduguda mine, which was commissioned in 1967 and is the oldest uranium mine in the country, is being deepened. Ore production at Narwapahar mine has also increased by 30 per cent. Narwapahar produces about 1,500 tonnes of natural uranium ore a day. The mine at Turamdih was reopened in 2002 and produces 350 tonnes of ore a day. UCIL plans to double the production there in the next three years. It is also setting up a mill, its second, at Turamdih. At Bagjata, 30 km from Jaduguda, the mine was reopened on January 23, 2004, and development mining is under way at a depth of 60 metres. The Rs.97-crore project will reach a depth of 600 metres.

To the west of Turamdih, UCIL is demolishing a hill at Banduhurang to excavate an open-cast mine for the ore. The hill is being chopped with the help of explosives at a height of every six metres to scoop out the mine. Dumpers are busy carrying away the blasted waste-rock and ore production at the Rs.95-crore project is scheduled to begin in April 2006.

In all these projects, Ramendra Gupta advocates "development with a human face". "How painlessly the development can be done is an important national issue. I am keeping this in mind for the tribal people," he said.

Also gearing up for expansion is the NFC, to meet the requirements of the reactors under construction. "We are working full steam," said S. Kalidas, Chairman and Chief Executive of the NFC. The NFC would supply fuel to meet the additional requirements, he said. That would mean a steady supply of natural uranium to be converted to yellowcake before sintering them in fuel bundles.

According to Swapnesh Kumar Malhotra, head of the Public Awareness Division of the DAE, there is no problem in uranium supply for the committed nuclear power programme as of today. For the expanding programme, there could be a problem, he said. Tapping the proven deposits is the easiest way out. But for that the State governments have to act, and act fast.