SHILLONG: The South West Khasi Hills district administration on Wednesday asserted that no explosion had taken place in the uranium effluent tank at Nongbah Jynrin in the district.
South West Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner, Cara Kharkongor said, “The question of leakage does not arise. The raw iron ore already existed there; the question of it blowing up does not arise.”
The statement from the deputy commissioner puts to rest growing concerns on social media which had gone abuzz over reported news of explosion and leakage from a uranium ore tank at Nongbah Jynrin.
The state government had dispatched a team to authenticate the report.
Kharkongor also stated that the ore becomes toxic when it is further enriched in a laboratory.
“Whatever has been sealed is in its natural form and there is no toxic element,” she added.
Elucidating further, she said that in the 90’s the Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL), before abandoning the site, had built two tanks to store the raw iron ore that they had extracted from the place.
“Before leaving they had wrapped up everything and the tanks were covered with a thick layer of soil after which it was sealed. So the question of leakage does not arise,” she added.
