HYDERABAD: The Movement Against Uranium Projects (MAUP) has opposed the proposal of Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) to set up a uranium project at Thummalapalle in Kadapa district, saying that it will do more harm than good to the present and future generations.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, MAUP convener J. Rama Rao said the project to mine alkaline uranium ore was neither technically feasible nor financially viable.

He alleged that the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report for the project did not qualify to be a full report as the baseline data measurement was limited only to winter as against all three seasons required for such a report.

As per the EIA report, the mine was expected to last for 30 years with a capacity of 3,000 tonnes per day from the fourth year of production. However, the average quality of the ore was very low--only 0.04 per cent.

He said that mining and processing of the ore would invariably contaminate air, soil, underground and surface water despite all claims of environment management. It was an `anti-people' project incurring heavy social and environmental costs.

A public hearing is scheduled to be held at Thummalapalle on September 10.

He said that new technology was proposed to be adopted as the uranium ore at Thummalapalle was alkaline. The underground mine leasehold area of 879 hectares belonged to five villages but there was no mention of the number of houses to be acquired and the extent of displacement of the families.

It also proposed to acquire land of which, 49.85 per cent was under cultivation, and develop green belt in only 40 per cent of it.

Capt. Rama Rao alleged that despite known risks, UCIL was pushing for uranium mining in a casual manner without rigorous scientific scrutiny.

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