Nuke worries unfounded, says regulator

THERE was no immediate danger from radiation to communities living in informal settlements, but the “situation was however less than ideal”, the National Nuclear Regulator (NNR) has stated.

“The NNR has now proposed that more detailed studies be conducted to determine the radiological impact on persons living in informal settlements.”

This is according to a recent response it sent to address concerns raised by environmental lobby group, the Federation for a Sustainable Environment.

In cases where children were found playing in contaminated water or where uncontrolled releases of effluent into the environment had been identified, these “incidents happen outside of boundaries of NNR authorised actions”.

On the absence of epidemiological studies addressing large-scale problems associated with uranium pollution, it declared that “in terms of our responsibilities”, the NNR did not have regulatory requirements to perform epidemiological studies.

The Department of Water Affairs had taken the lead “regarding issues concerned with acid mine drainage (AMD)” but the NNR stated that “we believe that most of the AMD results from unauthorised actions”.

This week, it emerged in a Parliament’s water portfolio committee that the government had three years to avert another AMD crisis on the Witwatersrand, which had implications for water security.

The NNR stated that environmental and human health effects posed by AMD not only arose from the presence of radioactivity, but also from the presence of toxic chemicals.

The organisation’s updating legislation and regulations to “be aligned with international best practice” and it says that issues “will be managed effectively as a matter of urgency”.