THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS AND PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE (DR. JITENDRA SINGH):
(a) No, Sir.
(b) Does not arise in view of (a) above.
During recovery of uranium from the ore in a uranium mill, tailings containing low level radioactivity get generated which are transported to tailings pond in the form of slurry. The tailings ponds are engineered valley-dam structures, which are under continuous radiological surveillance. In the tailings pond, the solids settle down and the supernatant liquid is routed to an Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP). Only treated effluents conforming to discharge limits are discharged into the environment. After extracting the uranium from the ore, the coarse fraction of the tailings is backfilled in mines and remaining treated tailings in the form of slurry is stored in engineered tailing impoundment facility (tailings pond). The effluent from the tailings pond are further collected, treated and re-used in the process. The remaining of the treated effluents is monitored to ensure that they meet the regulatory limits before discharge to the environment. Regular environmental monitoring around the uranium mining facilities is carried out by the Health Physics Laboratory to ensure that the impact of the mining operations in the surrounding areas is negligible. Depending on the characteristics of the residue and site conditions, the design features of tailing impoundment facility are decided. The restricted area of the tailings impoundment facility is kept under regular surveillance by Uranium Corporation of India Limited and Health Physics laboratory of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. The population residing around such facilities has not been found to have any health hazards due to associated radioactivity in the tailings. Regular radiation monitoring is carried out by the Health Physics Laboratory set up at the site by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. Monitoring reports related to radioactivity / radiation are prepared and submitted to the regulatory authority, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) to ensure that the impact of the mining operations in the surrounding areas is negligible.
(c) The uranium mines of the country are governed by various Acts, Rules and Regulations. The regulatory bodies like Directorate General of Mines Safety (DGMS) and the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) enforce compliance of the statute. AERB regulates uranium mines from radiological safety considerations under the enabling provisions of the Atomic Energy (Radiation Protection) Rules, 2004 and Atomic Energy (Safe Disposal of Radioactive Wastes) Rules, 1987. The radiological safety norms applicable to uranium mines are specified by AERB in various regulatory documents such as ‘Radiological Safety in Uranium Mining and Milling’, Management of Radioactive Waste from Mining and Milling of Uranium and Thorium etc.
(d)&(e) Yes, Sir. AERB carries out regulatory inspection of the uranium mines minimum once in a year to check the compliance with the requirements and stipulations stated in Licence issued under the Atomic Energy (Radiation Protection) Rules, 2004 and to verify the stipulations in Authorisation under Atomic Energy (Safe Disposal of Radioactive Wastes) Rules, 1987. In addition to regulatory inspections, special inspections are also carried out on case-to-case basis.
The details of inspections of Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) mines carried out by AERB during the last 3 years are given below:
Sr.No. UCIL Mines Inspection Period
[Financial Year]
2017-18 2018-19 2019-20
1. UCIL Mine- Jaduguda February, 2018 December, 2018 October, 2019
January, 2019 November, 2019
2. UCIL Mine- Turamdih February, 2018 January, 2019 January, 2020
3. UCIL Mine- Bhatin February, 2018 December, 2018 November, 2019
January, 2019 February, 2020
4. UCIL Mine-Bagjata August, 2017 February, 2019 February, 2020
5. UCIL Mine-Banduhurang February, 2018 January, 2019 February, 2020
6. UCIL Mine-Mohuldih February, 2018 January, 2019 February, 2020
7. UCIL Mine-Narwapahar February, 2018 January, 2019 February, 2020
8. UCIL Mine-Tummalapalle November, 2017 January, 2019 November, 2019
The important findings of the inspections are published regularly in AERB’s Annual Reports. The requirements with respect to monitoring of workplace, effluent, environment and radiation dose estimation of occupational workers is being complied with in all mines. Radiation doses of occupational workers in uranium mines are found to be well within the dose limits specified by AERB.
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