Jadugora (Jharkhand), Oct 6 (PTI) UCIL plans to double uranium production by 2036 to support the country’s target of achieving 100 GW of nuclear power capacity by 2047, a senior company official said.
India’s current nuclear power capacity is around 9 GW, while uranium mined and processed by Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL) contributes around 40 per cent to it, he added.
“The corporation plans to double uranium production by 2036 through expansion of existing projects and some greenfield projects. The plan is, however, subject to statutory and regulatory clearances obtained in time,” UCIL chairman-cum-managing director K Anand Rao said during a media interaction here on Monday.
The CMD, however, refrained from revealing the current uranium production figure, citing strategic reasons.
UCIL currently operates eight projects, including seven in Jharkhand’s Singhbhum region, and one in Andhra Pradesh.
Of the eight, seven are underground mines, and one is an open-pit mine located at Banduhurang in East Singhbhum district.
UCIL is planning to expand the existing Jadugora and Narwapahar mines and develop Greenfield projects in Rajasthan, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, according to a presentation tabled during UCIL’s Diamond Jubilee celebration year on Sunday.
Rao said the expansion of existing projects and Greenfield projects will take three to six years to start due to the requirement of several statutory clearances.
“We require clearances from 10 different bodies, including the Ministry of Environment and Forest,” the CMD said.
Jharkhand has uranium reserves for 50 years if exploited at the present capacity.
The company also envisages setting up the Mosabani Uranium Recovery Plant (MURP) in Jharkhand’s Singhbhum to recover uranium-bearing material from tailings of Hindustan Copper Limited (HCL) through gravity separation at a capacity of 9 lakh tonnes per annum.
“HCL is mining for copper in Mosabani. They use only 5 per cent of the total ore, and the rest is rejected. Ten per cent of the waste will be brought to the UCIL plant for processing and extraction of uranium. This is a cost-effective initiative because there is no mining cost, and it promotes a circular economy,” Rao said.
He said UCIL was working towards the country’s clean energy goals and contributing to the government’s target of 100 GW of nuclear power capacity by 2047.
Rao said India would have abundant energy once the country reached the third stage of its nuclear power programme, which involves thorium-based reactors.
The third stage envisages harnessing India’s vast thorium reserves on a large scale, using Uranium-233 bred during the second stage as fuel.
Thorium is considered a long-term energy resource and the third stage holds the key to India’s energy security, another UCIL official said. PTI SAN SAN MNB
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