VZCZCXRO7208
PP RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHCN
DE RUEHCI #0215/01 2001348
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 191348Z JUL 07
FM AMCONSUL KOLKATA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1605
INFO RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 0365
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHINGTON DC
RUEFHLC/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHINGTON DC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHINGTON DC
RUEIDN/DNI WASHINGTON DC
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEILB/NCTC WASHINGTON DC
RUEHUNV/USMISSION UNVIE VIENNA PRIORITY 0014
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0045
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL KOLKATA 1977
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 1532
RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI 0679
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI 0677
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 0439
RUEHGO/AMEMBASSY RANGOON 0298
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 0087
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU 0446

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KOLKATA 000215 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ENGR EMIN ELAB SENV TRGY ASEC IN
SUBJECT: URANIUM MINES IN INDIAN STATE OF JHARKHAND LACK PROPER 
HEALTH AND SAFETY STANDARDS 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:   As India seeks to develop its nuclear power 
industry, the GOI is expanding its uranium mines in India's 
eastern state of Jharkhand.  The Jadugoda mines, located in East 
Singhbum district, are presently the sole fuel source for 
India's ten pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWRs).  However, 
a December 2006 report of slurry leaking from a mine tailings 
pipe into a village stream and recent press reports of elevated 
radiation levels in areas around Jadugoda are the latest 
indicators, in a long series, pointing to lax safety measures 
that are exposing local tribal communities to radiation 
contamination.  The GOI's Uranium Corporation of India (UCIL) 
has repeatedly affirmed that it follows Atomic Energy Regulatory 
Board (AERB) regulations.  However, Consulate personnel that 
have visited the Jadugoda area confirm many of the allegations 
made against the UCIL's management of the mines, such as 
transportation of ore by open trucks, lack of proper safety 
equipment for workers, and dried tailing ponds open to public 
encroachment.  Enforcement of occupational safety rules is 
notoriously weak in India and the conditions around the Jadugoda 
mines demonstrate an apparent failure by UCIL to maintain basic 
health and safety standards at India's primary source of 
domestic nuclear fuel.  UCIL's recent expansion of its 
operations in Jharkhand's uranium belt will likely result in 
further radioactive contamination.  In addition, the apparent 
failure to maintain health and safety standards in the more 
visible Jadugoda mine area begs the question as to what 
standards are being maintained in India's nuclear facilities not 
visible to the public due to Official Secrets Act restrictions. 
End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (U) As a non-signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty 
(NPT), India is reliant on its domestic uranium reserves, 
reported in the Reasonably Assured Resources category as 64,000 
tons, to fuel its 17 operating nuclear reactors.  However, 
India's uranium deposits are extremely low grade, generally less 
than .1 percent.  Extracting a ton of uranium from so much ore 
requires high production costs and results in a 
disproportionately negative environmental impact. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The negative environmental impact of uranium mining is 
especially evident in Jharkhand's East Singhbum district, where 
much of the uranium is mined and milled to support India's 
domestic nuclear industry.  The Jadugoda three mine shafts are 
the oldest, having started operations in 1967, and produce ore 
grade in the .042 to .051 percent range, from depths of 500 to 
900 meters.  Approximately, 1,600 tons of ore are daily produced 
from these mines.  However, because India's requirements for 
uranium ore have increased and the Jadugoda mines are becoming 
depleted, additional mines in East Singhbum are being opened or 
expanded.  On June 25, Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil 
Kakodkar inaugurated the Banduhurang open-cast mine and laid a 
foundation stone for UCIL's proposed Mohuldih uranium mine 
located in Jharkhand's Saraikela-Kharswan district.  As UCIL's 
first open-cast mine, Banduhurang is projected to produce 2,400 
tons of uranium ore per day, the Mohuldih underground mining 
project is expected to produce 410 tons per day.  Other mines 
near Jadugoda are Turamdih, Bhatin and Narwapahar.  In addition 
to the mines, UCIL also operates two uranium processing plants: 
its original plant in Jadugoda inaugurated in 1967, which 
process daily 2,090 tons of ore, and a new plant at Turamdih, 
also inaugurated by Kakodkar this past June.  The Turamdih 
processing plant will have a capacity to process 3,000 tons per 
day.  The processing plants produce yellow cake U308 that is 
then sent to the Hyderabad Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC), which 
manufactures the nuclear fuel rods.  Waste from NFC's fuel rod 
production is then returned to Jadugoda where, according to 
local media and non-government organizations (NGOs), the waste 
is dumped in local fields.  UCIL refutes that claim. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Local communities and environmental groups have for 
several years expressed concern about possible high levels of 
radiation contamination around the older Jadugoda mines. 
 
KOLKATA 00000215  002 OF 003 
 
 
Concerns have increased following the bursting of a tailings 
pipeline in December 2006, resulting in tailings from the 
Jadugoda mill entering a tributary of the Subranarekha River. 
According to media and NGO reports, the tailings flowed for nine 
hours into a neighboring stream used by local villages as a 
water source, killing frogs, fish and other stream life.  On 
June 25, UCIL issued a letter to an independent film maker in 
response to a Right to Information Act request about the details 
of the leak, confirming there was a leak "through a small hole" 
but that the leak was stopped within a "few hours" and that the 
flow into the neighboring stream was blocked by a temporary 
earthen dam and the material recovered, returned to the tailings 
pond, and the stream "flushed with fresh water and its flow 
restored."  A UCIL press release responded that locals do not 
use the affected stream as a water source and that after the 
remediation effort, no effluent reached the Subarnarekha River. 
( Note:  Pictures reportedly of the tailing leak, contamination 
and clean-up process can be seen at 
http://www.nuclear-free.com/english/jaduguda2 .htm.  Those photos 
apparently show clean-up workers with no safety equipment and 
wading in the tailing sludge.  End Note.) 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Jadugoda has three tailing ponds that are unlined and 
uncovered.  Two are already full and abandoned and the remaining 
third is almost full.  Land is being acquired for a fourth. 
During the dry season dust blows from the abandoned ponds and in 
the monsoons, heavy rains cause flooding and extensive runoff 
from the sites.  Approximately, 35,000 people live within five 
kilometers of the tailing ponds.  Media footage shows, and 
Consulate staff confirms from personal experience, that some 
homes are located within forty meters of the abandoned tailing 
ponds, animals graze and children play in the area.  Villagers 
have used residue from the ponds to construct homes.  UCIL 
counters in a press release that the ponds are well fenced and 
guarded by security personnel.  In addition, other questionable 
safety practices include transport of the uranium ore from the 
mines to the processing mill in open trucks, with ore often 
falling from the trucks and mine workers riding on top of the 
ore.  The miners are given limited safety equipment and they 
often take their uniforms home and wash them at home, exposing 
their relatives to the uranium residue.  An award-winning 
documentary, "Buddha Weeps," details the issues regarding safety 
procedures and contamination and excerpts can be seen on YouTube 
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAb9UjzdixQ  (Also, photos of 
the lax safety procedures and alleged affects of radiation 
exposure on the local community can be seen at 
http://www.jca.apc.org/~misatoya/jadugoda/eng lish/jadugodav 
ic.html.)  UCIL counters that it has consistently won the President's 
Safety Award and ISO 9001:2000 certification for Quality 
Assurance and ISO 14001 certification for Environmental 
Management System. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) The spread of uranium ore from the mines has, 
according to two independent surveys, resulted in increased 
radiation exposure for the local tribal communities.  In 2002, 
Hiroaki Koide of the Kyoto University Research Reactor Institute 
published a research paper detailing elevated radiation levels 
around Jadugoda, especially in the area of the tailing ponds. 
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Environmental 
Protection Agency (EPA) and other international agencies require 
nuclear facilities to limit radiation exposure of the public to 
1 HYPERLINK "http://www.answers.com/topic/sievert"millisi evert 
(mSv) (100 mrem) per year, and limit occupational radiation 
exposure to adults working with radioactive material to 50 mSv 
(5 rem) per year, and 100 mSv (10 rem) in 5 years.  Koide found 
at tailing pond Number 2 air-gamma dose rates in excess of 10 
mSv/year.  (Koide's full report is available at 
http://www.jca.apc.org/~misatoya/jadugoda/eng lish/koide.html)  A 
Greenpeace survey conducted in 2003 found a higher level of 
radiation at 1.8 Sv/hour near the tailing ponds. (available at 
http://firstpeoplesfirst.in/cutenews/publicat ions.php?subac 
tion=showfull&id=1110529992&archive=&start_fr om=&ucat=2&) 
 
KOLKATA 00000215  003 OF 003 
 
 
 
¶7.  (SBU) The reported elevated radiation levels are believed to 
have resulted in increased illness and mutations among the 
neighboring villages.  In 1998, The Jharkhandi Organization 
Against Radiation (JOAR) in conjunction with the Bindrai 
Institute for Research, Study and Action (BIRSA) conducted a 
survey of seven villages within 1 kilometer of the tailing dams. 
 According to the survey, 47% of the women reported disruptions 
to their menstrual cycle, and 18% said they had suffered 
miscarriages or given birth to stillborn babies in the previous 
5 years. 30% reported some sort of fertility problem.  Nearly 
all women complained of fatigue, weakness and depression. 
Overall, the survey found a high incidence of chronic skin 
disease, cancers, TB, bone and brain damage, kidney damage, 
nervous system disorders, congenital deformities, nausea, blood 
disorders and other chronic diseases.  UCIL has responded that 
the illnesses in the areas around the uranium mines are caused 
by malnutrition, alcoholism, malaria and genetic abnormalities 
in the population. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Comment:  Based on Consulate staff observations and 
numerous reports, lax safety and security measures at the 
uranium mines in East Singhbum expose the local community to 
mined uranium ore and waste.   As noted, several reports 
indicate that radiation levels are sufficiently elevated to 
cause serious health issues and again, reports show higher 
incidents of illness and mutations among the local population. 
Given the existing conditions at India's uranium mines, 
increasing the exploitation of domestic reserves will likely 
result in increasing radiation exposure of local communities. 
In light of the fact that approximately 17 of Jharkand's 24 
districts are infiltrated with Naxalites, the lack of fencing, 
alarms and guards -- basic security measures -- also causes 
concern.  In addition, the apparent failure to maintain health 
and safety standards in the more visible Jadugoda mine area begs 
the question as to what standards are being maintained in 
India's nuclear facilities not visible to the public due to 
Official Secrets Act restrictions.  As India opens its civilian 
nuclear program to Indian and global scrutiny, and UCIL seeks 
cutting-edge milling technology for its mines, the U.S. and 
other countries could have leverage in helping UCIL maintain 
international health, safety and security standards. 
 
¶9.  (U)  This message was coordinated with AmEmbassy New Delhi. 
JARDINE