NEW DELHI – A stockpile of 15,000 tonnes of uranium is required forachieving supply security of fuel for nuclear plants in the country, theDepartment of Atomic Energy (DAE), which manages atomic energyinstallations, has told a parliamentary panel.
The panel report, which was tabled before the Lok Sabha in the on-goingParliament session, also recommended that necessary steps should be takento ensure new uranium mines are opened as soon as possible to reduce thedependance on the imported uranium.
Currently, a major portion of domestic production of uranium comes from theJaduguda mines of Jharkhand, which are “old” and the ore is found at “greatdepths.” Moreover, the high extraction cost makes it “unviable” as comparedto imported uranium, the panel noted.
Besides the Jaduguda mines, the uranium is extracted from the Tummalapallemines in Andhra Pradesh. Apart from Jaduguda, uranium reserves areavailable in Meghalaya, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Karnataka andTamil Nadu.
India has 22 nuclear power reactors and domestic uranium is used in nuclearplants which are not under the international nuclear energy watchdog,International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
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India currently imports uranium from Kazakhstan, Canada and Russia.
“The committee notes that the DAE aims at a stockpile of 15,000 tonnes ofuranium for achieving a level of comfort in so far as achieving supplysecurity of nuclear fuel for nuclear plants is concerned,” the panel saidin its report.
The government also plans to build a Strategic Uranium Reserve to ensurethat there is no shortage of uranium for its power reactors.
