DRDO said the UC waste is not much harmful
NAGPUR: Defence Research disposal of Bhopal’s toxic and Development Organization (DRDO) has said that the material at Union Carbide’s factory premises is non-hazardous, due to a low level of toxicity in it.
The waste was evaluated by Gwalior-based Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE). We have disposed off much more hazardous material than this, according to a source. The individual chemicals present in the samples have been verified too.
The samples collected from the site revealed that during assessment, though chances of a variation cannot be ruled out, since the material has been lying for years and may have undergone some chemical changes.
As for the solution proposed by DRDO, the material will be disposed of using oxidative incineration process, followed by chemical scrubbing of effluents. This universally accepted method for known and unknown chemical toxic wastes. Once the matter is incinerated, the leftover solid matter will be used for land filling, according to international standards.
The entire process of disposal is safe, as the emitted gases shall be vented out in the atmosphere within permissible limits specified by international bodies and environmental agencies. Batches of 100-500kg of toxic waste will be incinerated at a time. It will take two years to completely dispose of the material weighing 346.4 tones in all.
DRDE is part of the DRDO, which encompasses several defence research agencies in the country. The Borkhedi complex near Nagpur, where the waste has been planned to be incinerated, is part of DRDE, Gwalior.
