earthPoems
Celebration of LifeArchive for Waste Management
Nuclear waste dumping in Pakistan
By Adnan Farooq
If the leaching ponds containing the effluents of a milling and leaching plant are not covered in water, the dumped waste can dry up and gets blown all over by winds, as often happens in and near Dera Ghazi Khan
Dr. A. H. Nayyar is Director of the Ali Institute of Education, Lahore. He is a physicist, who retired from Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad after serving it for over 30 years. After retirement, he worked at the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Islamabad, dealing with policy issues in education and energy. Dr. Nayyar holds a visiting position at Princeton University, USA, where he studies technical issues in nuclear disarmament. He is a member of the International Panel on Fissile Materials.
In an interview with Viewpoint, he describes the hazards dumping of nuclear waste poses to the people of Pakistan. Read on:
How much nuclear waste is created in Pakistan and what are the dangers posed by this waste to our lives?
Let me first describe the different kinds of nuclear waste.
The first is the low level waste resulting from uranium ore processing. Only a few fractions of a kilogram of uranium are extracted out of tons of the ore. The rest, which is in thousands of tons, contains low level radioactivity, and poses health risks to people exposed to it. Radon gas is the main source of risk. This is the situation around uranium milling plants, like the one in Dera Ghazi Khan or Qubul Khel. In the newer uranium mines in Isa Khel, in-situ leaching is being done, and it is not known how much radioactivity is released to the environment from this process.
It has been conclusively shown in India that the health of the population around uranium mines gets seriously hurt by the mining activity, including severe skin ailments, cancers of various kinds, especially of lungs and skin, genetic disorder in new births.
The second is the high level waste from reactors of any kind. In a reactor, an isotope of uranium fissions and gives off energy. The parts in which a uranium nucleus is split are very highly radioactive and remain poisonous for thousands of years. The spent fuel of a reactor consists of such a material. Nobody in the world, nobody, knows what to do with this waste. Hundreds of thousands of tons of this waste is just lying in protective enclosures around the world. Nobody has found a safe way to dispose off this waste. Reactor accidents of the kind of Chernobyl can spew a large amount of such waste into the environment over thousands of square kilometers around the accident site, causing extensive loss of life and agriculture.
Pakistan has three kinds of reactors: power reactors, as in Karachi and Chashma, reactors made to produce plutonium for nuclear weapons, as in Khushab, and research reactors as in Nilore, Rawalpindi. Spent fuel from power reactors remains stored in cooling ponds on site, nearly for ever. Spent fuel from plutonium production reactors is reprocessed to extract plutonium and the remaining uranium, and the highly radioactive waste containing fission products is stored in a specially protected waste site. Spent fuel from research reactors is stored as such in storage sites.
We hear about Dera Ghazi Khan when it comes to dumping of nuclear waste. If there are other places too becoming pits for nuclear waste?
Pakistan’s Atomic Energy Commission holds most of its activities secret, and does not let citizens know where it dumps nuclear waste. Presently the Commission is directly under the Ministry of Defence, and hence its work has become highly confidential. Even when it was under the Ministry of Science and Technology, it would not allow any probing into its activities. We do not know which other places are being used as nuclear waste dumping sites.
Do as citizens we have any right to know about nuclear waste dumping procedures?
Given that radioactivity from nuclear waste directly impacts citizens’ health, it becomes a fundamental right of citizens to know what risks such activities pose to them. If there are dumping sites near a population centre, the activity can seep into ground water and make it unusable. If the leaching ponds containing the effluents of a milling and leaching plant are not covered in water, the dumped waste can dry up and gets blown all over by winds, as often happens in and near Dera Ghazi Khan. It is criminal that the Atomic Energy Commission does not share any information on waste dumping procedures it adopts. In principle, there is the Nuclear Regulatory Authority meant to oversea the work of PAEC. But PNRA is mostly staffed by persons seconded from the Commission, and loyalties die hard.
As Pakistan is not a party to Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty while it has recently signed nuclear deals with China. What will be the implications of these deals for Pakistan’s nuclear program?
Pakistan will get nuclear power reactors manufactured in China on soft payment conditions. The fuel will come from China, and the highly toxic spent fuel will be stored in Pakistan. Each of the new reactors would cost an arm and a leg, and yet each would add only 1.5% to the installed electricity generation capacity. Nuclear electricity is viable only in countries that are short of other options. Many countries of the world have therefore shunned it for ever. The main reasons why Pakistan is insisting on buying new reactors include (a) it wants to secure the same status of global acceptability as a nuclear state as India has acquired after the US-India nuclear deal, overcoming the embargo the international nuclear agreements had imposed on it after the 1998 nuclear tests; (b) nuclear reactors provide a raison d’etre to the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission.
From VIEWPOINT, Pakistan
http://www.viewpointonline.net/
Doctors and environmentalists warn against ‘sri pai’
By Abdul Manan
LAHORE: People throughout the city are eating the unhealthy and potentially hazardous ‘sri pai’, as these are prepared by burning off the hair of goats with highly toxic gases, doctors and environmentalists told Daily Times on Saturday.
There are two ways to cook sri pai- it can either be cooked by properly mixing the Acetylene gas with Oxygen, or it can be cooked by using various PVC plastic pipes, capacitors and electronic and plastic waste.
CDGL: People throughout the city have established temporary furnaces along roadsides, especially at the corner of every street in the Walled City. The City District Government Lahore (CDGL) officials had previously confiscated gas mixture equipments required for cooking sri pai, with a view that gas cylinders were too dangerous to be allowed at roadside restaurants. Hence, most people have started to use electronic and plastic waste as the tool of choice to burn sri pai at high temperatures.
Health risks: However, various doctors and environmentalists have strongly criticised the burning process that makes use of electronic and plastic wastes. University of Engineering and Technology (UET) Environmentalist Professor Dr AR Saleemi said that burning electronic and plastic waste released highly toxic gases, including Hydrocarbons, Dioxin, Chlorine and Carbon Monoxide. He said that when food is cooked over such toxic gases, it absorbs them and they adversely affect the health of those consuming the food.
He said that burning plastic and electronic waste to release toxic gases damaged the surrounding environment as well. He said that this adversely affected the health of the surrounding residents as well as those who come to consume the food.
He also pointed out that if sri pai was prepared by burning of Acetylene and Oxygen, the same food was not hazardous for health. He said that for those who are fond of eating sri pai, they should properly wash it before cooking it, and a mixture of gases should be used to attain the high temperature required to cook it.
Sir Ganga Ram Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Ejaz Ahmed Sheikh said that plastic waste emitted carcinogenic gases, which were highly toxic and hazardous for health. He said that these gases could cause serious damage to throat and lungs. He said that sri pai, which is prepared by burning plastic waste, should not be consumed because of the unhygienic preparation processes. He said that cardiac patients should avoid eating the sri pai as it is a very high-protein food.
Open drains cause air pollution, diseases
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
By Ali Raza
LAHORE
OPEN drains in the provincial metropolis release poisonous gases, causing pollution and spreading foul stench.
At least 12 major WASA drains pass through Lahore. These are located on Walton Road, Fruit and Vegetable Market on Ferozpur Road, Bihar Colony, Township, General Hospital, Chungi Amer Sadhu, Satto Kattla, Hudyara, Khurshid Alam Road, Gulberg (near Home Economics College), Canal Park, Shama Cinema, Rasool Park, Samnabad, Gulshan-e-Ravi, Abdul Rehman Road, Fortress Stadium, Mian Mir Colony, Upper Mall, Zafar Ali Road, Mustafabad, Mian Mir Graveyard, Governor’s House, Jinnah Gardens, Lawrence Road, Birdwood Road, Jail Road, LOS Workshop, Samnabad, The Mall, Zoo, Queens Road, Diyal Singh Mansion, Mozang, Lytton Road, Chauburji (near Green Building), Shalimar Road, Shalimar Gardens, Medina Colony, Misri Shah, Shadbagh, Bagh Munshi Ladha, Walled City, Data Nagar and Siddiqpura.
According to officials, these drains discharge water in Ravi River through disposal stations located at Mahmood Booti, Shadbagh, Chota Ravi, Shahdra, Babo Saboo and Satto Katla.
They said drainage system in Lahore was started in 1936. Initially, main sewer lines were laid from McLeod Road to Outfall Road and in Mozang, Krishan Nagar, Sanat Nagar Road, Ravi Road, Gunj Bazar Mughalpura, Shamnagar, Anarkali and some parts of the Walled City. At the time of partition of the sub-continent, the major drains in Lahore were Cant Drain (Mian Mir Drain), Sukh Nehar Drain and Chota Ravi Drain.
They said the drainage and water supply system was handed over to Lahore Improvement Trust (LIT), established in 1967. The LIT constructed drains and laid sewers in Gulberg, Samnabad, Shadbagh and some other areas of the City. They maintained that with the creation of WASA under LDA Act 1975, the system was handed over to WASA except Township and Green Town localities that were controlled by the Housing and Physical Planning Department until 1993.
Another senior WASA official said all open drains were originally constructed to carry rain and flood water but they turned into sewers with the passage of time. He said the WASA constructed main drains such as General Hospital Drain, Maulana Shaukat Ali Road Drain, Habibullah Road Drain, Furkhabad Drain in Shahdra and Ghaziabad Drain between 1987 and 1990. The existing drainage and sewers may carry much water if properly desilted.
Shahid Bhatti, an environmentalist said poisonous gases emanating from open sewers pollute the environment. “Foul odour emanating from these drains discourages economic activity,” he observed.
Open sewers also pollute ground water as sewage seeps into ground, he said and added that this caused various kinds of stomach and liver diseases among people who lived near open drains and drink ground water.
When contacted, WASA Planning Director Zahid Aziz said sewer drains were not covered in majority of developing countries because of lack of funds. He said the agency was planning to construct two underground sewers to transfer sewage of two drains. He said the agency would construct a big conduit to transfer sewage from Cant Drain (formally known as Mian Mir Drain) to Gulshan-e-Ravi Disposal Station. He said this project was very costly and was included in WASA’s future projects.
He said the agency would also construct a big underground sewer in Allama Iqbal Town area and it would carry sewage of Allama Iqbal Town to the Multan Road sewer. He said the agency would start this project very soon.
About contamination of groundwater by sewage, he said the WASA usually pumped ground water from a depth of 500 to 700 feet and seepage from open drains reached a depth of 200 feet. He claimed ground water supplied by WASA to citizens was safe. He said presence of encroachments along open drains was a serious issue and action was needed to resolve it.
Waste to some, home for others
LAHORE: The 22 Waste Enclaves that were recently built by the government to store solid waste prior to its disposal have become homes for the homeless and are also being used by couples as ‘safe’ places for illicit trysts, sources within the Solid Waste Management (SWM) told Daily Times on Monday.
The SWM sources said that the use of such sites as homes was resulting in the spread of various diseases and posed an environmental threat as well. The enclave at GOR-I in particular has become a home for one Karim, who along with his wife and three sons, has been living at the WE that is located opposite to the official residence of Lahore District Co-ordination Officer (DCO) Sajjad Ahmed Bhutta for the past few months.
Karim told Daily Times that the contractor had allowed him to live at the WE if he emptied the garbage containers every day. He said that his family helped him to separate the contents of the containers, so that they could be recycled. The contractor pays wages for the usable waste collected, he added.
Referring to the unhygienic living conditions, he said that his children were suffering from various diseases due to the lack of a healthy diet and exposure to the garbage. He said that his newborn often ate the waste, as the garbage containers had become his playground. Karim also said that his family was using the plastic bottles disposed off by GOR-I residents as their water bottles. He said that he had no other option for a residence, as he was too poor to afford any rent.
Removal: SWM Executive District Officer (EDO) Mudasser Waheed Malik told Daily Times that it was very harmful for anyone to reside at the waste disposal sites. He said that he would ensure that all such illegal occupancies were removed within days.
However, the homeless are not the only ones using the enclaves. Encouraged by the privacy granted by the location, SWM sources said that several couples have been using the sites for intercourse. They said that SWM employees usually aided this practice by allowing the couples to ‘rent’ the site for Rs 50. A City District Government Lahore (CDGL) Environment Department official claimed that the enclaves had become prostitution centres. He also said that such sites were built without any proper planning and were often the source of environmental pollution because of the SWM’s negligence.
Health risk: Pakistan Medical Society (PMS) President Dr Masood Sheikh said that any activity near or at the waste disposal sites was dangerous for a person’s health. He said that hookworms and tapeworms could easily infect someone, causing anaemia. He said children infected by such parasites often had long nights filled with itching, and also suffered from diarrhoea and typhoid. He said that 10 percent of the country’s population was the victim of Hepatitis B and C, and blades and needles used by such patients were often thrown into the garbage. He said that children playing in that garbage could easily become victims of such diseases.
Dr Sheikh also said that any form of intercourse in such places could result in urinary tract infections. He said that being around the waste sites could also worsen the health of people suffering from asthma.
Cultural show getting popular with Lahorites
Sunday, September 21, 2008
By Our Correspondent
LAHORE
A FABULOUS cultural extravaganza, organized by Road Association in collaboration with The Creators held at Alhamra Arts Council, is getting popularity with the Lahorites in the provincial metropolis.
Three-day ‘All Pakistan NGO’s Festival 2008’ opened on Friday and it would end on Sunday. The festival offered a great opportunity to different non-government organizations to participate and interact with the people hailing from different areas of the country, particularly from Peshawar and Quetta.
Different NGOs have also set up stalls where handicrafts, ranging from clothes to children’s toys, are being put on display for attraction of the people. President of Youth Wing of Road Association Adda Jaffery, while talking to The News, said the Association had also exhibited its model plan of recycling waste material in the centre of the festival to give an idea to the people that environment could be maintained through recycling and other methods.
She said the Association would launch this project very soon. She said participation of students was really very encouraging at the festival.
Cultural activities, including puppet show, theatre and mushairra, are being organized to highlight various literary, social and cultural aspects of the society. She said the basic objective of these activities was to point out the issues being faced by different people in the country. Talking about the stalls, she said the Association also helped the people get basic education and learn different skills so that they could also become active members of the society.
She said the Association also sought help and collaboration of different NGOs so that an understanding could be developed among the civil society organization for resolution of all the social problems of the society.
Mushairra has been organized to pay tribute to the late renowned poet Ahmed Faraz and students of different colleges will recite their poetry in this regard. About theatrical performance, she said the students would perform at the festival to highlight social issues.
The Association is not a donor-funded and it raised its revenue while holding different activities and through sale of tickets at the festival, she said, while adding that it was also working for development of skills of the domestic women workers so that they could also earn their livelihoods.
earthPoems 