ISLAMABAD, May 21: Pak-istan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) has claimed that the storage and disposal of waste material is being carried out strictly as per safety rules and procedures of national and international standards.

Clarifying a news item that appeared in a section of the press on May 20, based on proceedings of the Senate regarding dumping of nuclear waste in the open, the PAEC said the news report had caused “immediate public apprehension and also cast aspersions on Pakistan in terms of its responsibilities for maintaining safety of the general public, the environment as well as its own workers”.

“Although the matter is subjudice in the Supreme Court yet it may be clarified that only uranium contaminated waste is being stored/disposed of at Baghalchur site. No dumping of this waste is being undertaken in the open but in specially prepared rooms/caverns.

The storage of uranium waste in the abandoned mines is an established practice the world over and there is no direct contact of the stored waste with the humans or their environments under these storage arrangements.

The areas in use are fenced and guarded, with no chances of unauthorized entry. A regular surveillance of the area is performed for the presence of radioactivity in water, vegetation and air and no radioactivity has ever been found in any of these sources. “There is, therefore, no reason for appearance of deformities like blindness, hearing problems and shortening of life expectancy in humans.

It is pertinent to mention that thousands of our employees have been involved in the handling of uranium for the last 35 years but no deformities have been noticed in them and in their family members residing in official colony near these facilities.

The appearance of any deformities in any member of the public is therefore out of question and farfetched.—PR