Management of hazardous nuclear waste, rather than mining of the radioactive uranium, is a major concern for many scientific experts and policy makers, it has been revealed.
Experts said, with the likelihood of uranium mining activities to commence, Tanzania lacked the required infrastructure for nuclear waste management and disposal.
The Tanzania Atomic Energy Commission’s (Taec) Nuclear Technology director, Mr Firmin Banzi said nuclear waste disposal was a global problem.
He added that, even developed countries involved in large-scale uranium mining for years, were having problems in the management of waste from such mines.
The developed countries have in recent years increasingly becoming hesitant to accept nuclear waste from developing countries despite their high level of technologies.
He emphasized that radioactive waste needs to be “safely managed” in accordance with the principles of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), for which Tanzania is a signatory.
Any disposal, he went on, must be critically assessed to see whether it would have adverse effect to human health and the environment, both now and in the future.
“Unfortunately, no country has developed an effective mechanism to dispose off nuclear waste in a manner that would not contain any form of radiation”, he pointed out.
Recently, the government announced that uranium mining could commence within the next two years. The country intends to tap the mineral mainly for power generation.
Mr Banzi said there was an acceptable level of uranium exposure to human health. However, he said, during mining operations, such exposure is likely to rise beyond ‘acceptable levels’, endangering the health of people, animals and the environment.
The scientific expert said uranium, a mineral said to be substantially widespread in the earth’s crust, had both toxic and radioactive effects to people exposed to it.
He challenged the government to put in place measures that would minimise such effects to people and the environment when mining activities begun.
Health risks that people could be exposed to are in form of dust generated during mining operations or transportation of ore and tailings; and seepage into water.
Mr Banzi was briefing senior officials from Taec; the National Environment Management Council (Nemc); and the ministry of Energy and Minerals on radiation safety.
The Taec acting director general, Mr Julius Ngaile said exposure to radioactive gas called radon was prevalent in uranium mines and was a health hazard.
When inhaled, the gas lodges in the miners’ lungs, delivering a massive dose of alpha radiation to the sensitive lung tissues, resulting to an extraordinarily high incidence of lung cancer, fibrosis of the lungs and other lung related diseases, ” all of which take decades to be diagnosed”, he explained.
He said Taec, alongside with Nemc, have been tasked by the government to develop regulatory infrastructures for the control of mining and milling of uranium “even before the actual mining starts”.
He added that, teams of researchers from Taec have been carrying out impact assessment studies in Mkuju Valley in Namtumbo District, Ruvuma Region, where vast deposits of uranium were found.
He emphasized that, the government would consider the experts’ advice to ensure adherence to guidelines on uranium mining and milling.
“This would ensure that the environment is protected from radiation. In addition, experts have important role in reviewing environmental impacts, monitoring and auditing of the projects” he added.
Mr Leonard Kifanga, a senior nuclear research officer with the Commission, said nuclear power plants were main sources of radioactive wastes besides the mining sites.
He added that the objective of nuclear waste management guidelines was to ensure protection of workers, the public and environment from ionised radiation hazards.
Mining experts say the uranium deposits discovered at Mkuju River Valley have been estimated at 36 million pounds, while other reserves have been found in Dodoma and Singida regions.
Taec, which is based in Arusha, recently inaugurated its new complex on the outskirts of the municipality with a number of modern facilities, including the laboratories.
The institution has been given another 6,000 acres at Karangai Village in Arumeru District to construct additional structures such as the laboratories and mini nuclear reactors.
Experts with Taec have often played down that nuclear power option would be hazardous to the health of people through exposed to radiation, insisting it would add only 0.006 per cent of all radiation naturally existing in the atmosphere.
