Janine Stephen reports on a scrap in Parliament over who should control nuclear safety in the mines
In shock reports presented at a parliamentary public hearing this week, the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) disclosed that large numbers of mineworkers are being exposed to dangerous radiation levels.
An inspection carried out by the Council for Nuclear Safety in May to August last year showed more than 1 000 workers in Harmony Gold Mines in the Free State have received an annual radiation dose five times higher than it should be.
“Essentially, these workers were being fried,” said a council source. “They are not provided with protective clothing or even instruments that would allow them to measure radiation levels and withdraw from an area if these are too high.”
The mine safety manager at Harmony Mines, Rob Gilmour, confirmed that an inspection by the council had indicated “radiation levels over the maximum” allowed.
An investigation by the council at the Nigel Gold Mining Company in September last year showed levels of radiation due to radioactive radon gas, released by uranium deposits in the shafts, were dangerously high.
These facts were presented during two-day public hearings on the draft nuclear energy and national nuclear regulator Bills. The Council for Nuclear Safety is a watchdog that advises the government on nuclear safety.
Relations between the representatives of the Department of Minerals and Energy and mining companies on the one hand, and the council and NUM on the other, were at times acrimonious during the hearings. The unions accused the Chamber of Mines of being “bullyboys”, and the chamber retaliated by calling the council “draconian”.
The acrimony arose largely out of perceptions about the process of drafting the Bills – most of the input came from the minerals and energy department and the Chamber of Mines – as well as a controversial proposal to transfer responsibility for regulating radioactivity in the mining industry from the council to the department.
NUM representative Sazi Jonas said the eagerness to remove mining from the council’s regulation “is driven by a desire to protect profits and lower mine safety standards”. He also accused the department of being “unduly influenced by mining industry employers”.
Chamber of Mines representative John Stewart denied any accusations of collusion with the department. He said Minister of Minerals and Energy Penuell Maduna had agreed the Mine Health and Safety Act should govern mining radiation hazards.
“The activities at a gold mine do not have the same radiation risks as those of a nuclear power station … therefore there are no nuclear safety risks at a typical gold mine that need regulation by the Council for Nuclear Safety,” said Anglogold representative Johan Botha.
“Mining has a social benefit and we can’t make it so costly that workers’ jobs are at risk. So perhaps you say radiation will kill you, but no jobs will also kill you.”
Council representative Thomas Aufdehyde countered that the Mine Health and Safety Act “does not provide for the unique nature of radiation damage on mines”.
He expressed concern about the ability of the chief inspectorate of mines to take over regulatory responsibility. If the proposed schedule laying out allowed levels of radioactivity was passed, “some [workers’ and public] exposure to radiation may be higher than before”.
Environmental groups, the Chemical Workers Industrial Union and the South African National Civic Organisation objected to the transferral of regulatory responsibility to the chief inspectorate of mines.
They raised concerns about the lack of independence of the regulator, and lack of consultation when the Bills were drafted.
“The drafting has been a closed shop,” said Stephen Law of the Environmental Monitoring Group.
“There has been no attempt by the department to consult beyond its own ranks.”
The new Bills are meant to separate the functions of nuclear safety from the development of nuclear technology, lumped together in the old Act. But the result has been to strip the council of power or influence in the mines, and to leave control in the hands of those sympathetic to the mine owners.