All of the uranium for India's ten Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) comes from a single uranium processing plant at Jadugoda, a sprawling complex fed by three underground uranium mines and the by-product from three nearby copper mines. Jadugoda (variously spelled as Jaduguda or Jadugora, from the word 'Jaragora' which means a grove of the castor oil tree) lies on indigenous Santhali and Ho tribal lands in the Singhbhum East district of south Bihar state (now Jharkhand). The area is also in the heart of the pre-colonial Adivasi (tribal) homeland known as Jharkhand, and the movement against the mining operation is tied in with a much older movement for Jharkhandi statehood.

This mine is the foundation on which the Indian nuclear fuel chain rests; its importance is underscored by a blanket of secrecy and a heavy police presence in the area.

Jadugoda exports yellowcake (U3O8) to the Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC) in Hyderabad, more than a thousand kilometres away in southern India, for fabrication into fuel rods. Waste from the NFC plant, as well as nuclear wastes from other parts of India, are then returned by road and rail to Jadugoda and dumped adjacent to tribal villages, on what were their rice fields.

Around 30,000 people live in 15 villages within 5km of the Jadugoda complex. They are paying for India's nuclear capabilities with their lives.

• The Jadugoda Case
  Supreme Court update January 31 2001
  
• Update January 2001
  Widespread, successful demonstrations against the mine.
• A Call to Action
  Simple ideas for supporting the affected people
• Sample letter to the Indian Prime Minister
  Please post or email today - 5 minutes can make a big difference
• Update December 2000
  Prelude to a month of action
• Download the full report.
  This page links to the document written on the Indian nuclear industry and the Jaduguda mine in early 2000.
• Buddha Weeps in Jaduguda
  Order the documentary today or organise a screening.

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