IAEA team arrives for assessment

 

By Ludger Kasumuni  

 

In Summary

• It is important to have regulatory efficiency in managing uranium mining and milling to meet the mining companies’ expectation without compromising human health and the environment.

Dar es Salaam. Five experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are in the country for a final assessment that will pave the way for environmentally friendly uranium production under the Mkuju River Project.

The IAEA Uranium Production Site Appraisal Team (Upsat) will be in the country for ten days.

This is the first time Upsat has come to Africa to see whether the internationally recognised health and environmentally safety standards for uranium production are adhered to, according to Tanzania Atomic Energy Commission (Taec) director general Iddi Mkilaha.

“We have invited the International Atomic Energy Agency to assess our progress in implementing international health and environmental safety standards in uranium mining. They have come on this mission,” Prof Mkilaha said.

He added that Upsat recommendations would be taken into consideration to ensure better environmental and health standards governing uranium exploration, production and transportation

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The Director of Science and Technology in the Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology, Prof Evelyne Mbede, said when launching the visit that the IAEA mission would address a number of issues, including the regulatory system, uranium production, safety and the environment, social licensing and capacity building.

She said the mission would objectively advise the government on how uranium could be produced and transported in a way that is environmentally, economically and socially sustainable.

“It is important to have regulatory efficiency in managing uranium mining and milling to meet the mining companies’ expectation without compromising human health and the environment,” Prof Mbede said.\
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She said there were concerns among many people about the negative impact of uranium production on human health and the environment. “Uranium miners need to deal with community perceptions as well as the actual level of hazard involved, which is a global challenge as opponents of nuclear energy look only at the negative side without balancing the great advantage of the technology,” Prof Mbede said.\

Presenting the mission and its objectives, the IAEA-Upsat mission coordinator, Mr Harikrishnan Tulsidas, said that they intended to collect and share knowledge of uranium resources for supporting the development of a sustainable uranium production cycle in Tanzania.

“The principal objective of the Upsat programme is the identification of areas that may require improvement and the formulation of recommendations for introduction of improved practices,” he said.

An Upsat mission is conducted outside any regulatory framework and is intended to supplement other facility and regulatory efforts which may have the same objective.

Areas to be covered include the management, organisation and administration of the uranium project. Others are training and qualification of standards and assessment of operations, maintenance, safety and fire protection.

Government experts, Mantra (uranium investor) and IAEA will hold roundtable discussions before compiling a final report for the government. Last month, the Ministry of Energy and Minerals issued a special mining licence to Mantra Tanzania, a subsidiary of Australian company Mantra Resources, acquired by Russian uranium company Atom Red Met Zoloto (ARMZ) in 2012.

Mkuju River is to be operated by Uranium One, the Canadian-based uranium producer recently acquired by ARMZ.

Mkuju River, in Namtumbo District of southern Tanzania, has measured and indicated resources of 36,000 tonnes of Uranium plus inferred resources of 10,000 tonnes.

The company plans to produce 1,400 tonnes annually from the project.

Unesco’s World Heritage Committee last year agreed to the decision to hive the area off Selous Game Reserve in mid-2012.

However, mining activists have been routinely questioning the validity of certificate for approval issued by the National Environmental Management Council (NEMC) on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).