Partial nuke waste clean-up advised
The National Nuclear Regulator has advised an emergency evacuation of radioactive material from a mining site outside Beaufort West in the Northern Cape. The material was recently dumped in an old mining pit 40km west of the town. The regulator said this had been done “to move it away from the inhabitants of [a] farmhouse and reduce their exposure”. But that resulted in the nuclear waste being left at a place where “it cannot be contained” because it is exposed to wind erosion and will leach into the ground water.
The regulator’s decision follows a complaint laid by Dr Stefan Cramer, the science adviser for the Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Initiative. He asked for an investigation into mining waste at the Rietkuil mine outside the town.
The operation is run by Tasman Pacific Minerals, which is owned by the Australian-listed mining company, Peninsula Energy. Tasman is prospecting for a giant uranium mine, which would involve digging open pits to supply nuclear material to local and international companies.
Cramer’s complaint followed a visit to the site he undertook with the Mail & Guardian in April this year. Readings taken on a Geiger counter showed radiation levels at Rietkuil in excess of the 0.2 microsieverts an hour legal limit. Old mining debris, left from aborted uranium mining about 40 years ago, exceeded seven microsieverts an hour.
The regulator followed up on the complaint with a site visit at the end of April.
Cramer said he was refused entry by the mine when he accompanied the regulator. Cramer said: “This meant the inspector did not go to the sites where we measured the highest levels of radiation.”
As a result, the regulator’s report understated the uranium levels that h a d b e e n me a s u r e d in the earlier visit by Cramer and the M&G.
It also only took readings of the new waste, and not of the high radiation readings from old mining waste. The regu- lator said those levels are still above legal limits.
The historical waste is the responsibility of whoever owns the property at the time; remediation becomes the liability of the operator when a site is sold.
The old waste is lying exposed in the veld. Rain and wind is breaking it down, blowing irradiated particles across the Karoo and leaching it into groundwater.
The current, or newly dumped, waste for which the nuclear regulator has advised an “emergency evacuation” does the same thing — just quicker.
Over time, it releases radon and polonium, a cocktail the World Health Organisation says can lead to lung cancer and leukaemia. It can also lead to birth defects.
No baseline health study has been done on the effect on people of the 40 years of irradiated waste being blown around the Karoo.
Similarly, no baseline studies have been done on the old gold mine dumps in Gauteng.
But the nuclear regulator’s deci- sion does deal with the immediate threat in the Karoo. Tasman must create a plan to remove the grey dirt safely, which has been dumped in burst white bags.
Tasman did not respond to repeated questions about this waste, or the high uranium readings at their prospecting sites, despite having had six weeks to do so.