A pall of gloom descended over this town following the announcement made by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) saying an abandoned gold mining shaft in the Kolar Gold Fields (KGF) area will be used to dump nuclear fuel waste from the Kudankulam nuclear plant in Tamil Nadu.
The Kolar Gold Fields (KGF) area which comes under the Robertsonpet City Municipal Council (CMC) has a population of 3.04 lakh people and about 1.41 lakh people live within the 25 km radius of the KGF.
“We have been facing drinking water problems ever since one of the gold mines was closed. That shaft has already got flooded due to which many borewells and open wells were getting polluted water. Our engineers say the condition is irreversible and people have to bear with it. Now NPCIL wants to dump the nuclear waste into the shaft, and add to our woes,” complained CMC president P Dhayananda.
Civic activists were shocked. “The decision has come as a bolt from the blue. We were not even consulted. Our MP KH Muniyappa also has expressed surprise but since NPCIL is a central government organisation, he will be noncommittal about the dumping of the nuclear waste,” Y Sampangi MLA said.
The JD(S) and BJP called for a bandh in Kolar district on Friday to protest the decision to dump nuclear waste in the shaft of the KGF. Though Congress leaders have expressed helplessness, a few rebel Congress workers joined environmental groups in protesting against NPCIL’s decision.
According to nuclear physicists, nuclear fuel waste is harmful. But it can lay buried forever if it is disposed of in a scientific manner. “There is a process for carrying out the dumping of nuclear waste. It has to be encapsulated in unbreakable glass and encased in an impenetrable concrete cover with an embalming that can last for a 1,000 years. Nuclear waste is toxic and can harm life on the surface. That is why there is an elaborate and foolproof process which can never be compromised,” said Prof KM Balakrishna, head, Department of Physics at Mangalore University.
“The encapsulated toxic material is dumped 1,500 metres below the surface. If the dumping protocol is followed without a flaw, even water or moisture cannot reach the material. No human activities can take place within a 10 km radius. And all humans living within that area will be evacuated. However, some officials and workers of the Department of Atomic Energy will have to visit the spot regularly to monitor the radiation level and check for leakages which is inevitable,” Prof Balakrishna said.
“Why are they dumping waste from Kudankulam in Karnataka? Why cannot they dump it in Tamil Nadu?” asked some Kolar residents. “We have not even allowed the municipal waste of Bangalore to be dumped in Kolar. How can they allow highly toxic waste to be dumped in our backyard?” some residents of Robertsonpet asked.
“First Tamil Nadu took away our water. Now they want to dump their nuclear waste in our land. What would they do next?” asked another resident.
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