India ramps up uranium capacity for power gen

Though India currently generates nuclear power at 50% plant load factor (plf) due to the shortage of uranium, the country actually has enough reserves to fire 10,000 mw of nuclear power, said a top official of the Atomic Energy Commission.

Anil Kakodkar, chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, said, “We are currently working on augmenting the country’s uranium capacity and will soon have sufficient reserves to run 10,000 mw of nuclear power.”

Though he did not mention any time frame or the current uranium mining capacity, Kakodkar said the country will soon have a uranium mining and mill facility in Andhra Pradesh. Recently, an additional mill was set up to mine uranium in Singhbhum district near Jamshedpur in Jharkhand, he told newspersons at a CII meet here.

Kakodkar, in his earlier interactions with the media, had also said India’s domestic uranium production capacity is expected to rise by 25% from Jaduguda Yuramdih mills by the end of this year. This is expected to be complemented by uranium imports from countries such as Russia and France. “This is not the end and we will be importing even more fuel from them and other countries as well. It will come soon,” he said.

Recently, the Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC) in Hyderabad had placed an order for 300 tonnes of uranium ore concentrate with French nuclear major Areva. Out of this, 60 tonnes have already been supplied and the remaining 240 tonnes are expected to hit Indian shores in a month. Another 30 tonnes of uranium pellets from Russia were delivered to the NFC for the Rajasthan power plant.

The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), at which Kakodkar is the secretary, has also proposed expansion of NFC to augment its fabrication of uranium fuel.

Currently, India has an installed nuclear power generation capacity of 4120 mw, out of which it roughly generates only 2060 mw because of a severe shortage of uranium fuel.