Andhra likely to join leaders in nuclear fuel

Post the Indo-US nuclear agreement and on proposed uranium mining taking off, Andhra Pradesh may emerge among the top few states in the country, which would meet the increased requirement of nuclear fissile material for atomic energy development programmes.

Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) has zeroed in on two locations for uranium reserves in Nalgonda and Kadapa districts with a proposed investment of Rs 1,587 crore. These reserves were discovered in 1990 and 1991.

In the case of Lambapur-Peddagattu project in Nalgonda, most of the pre-mining formalities including the in-principle clearance from the Union ministry of forests and environment are already in place.

In the backdrop of initial hiccups involving apprehensions over the possible impact on environment and health due to mining of the radio active material, both the Centre and the state governments are moving gingerly yet firmly on the issue while trying to address the concerns of the local people.

According to government sources, the Prime Minister's Office is closely monitoring the status of the proposed mining of new uranium reserves in the state and elsewhere keeping in view the country's ambitious nuclear energy development programmes proposed for the Eleventh Five Year Plan.

From the national perspective, the proposed Andhra operations in uranium mining assume greater importance given the size of reserves and the availability of nuclear fuel here.

About 411 tonne of uranium is expected to be produced annually from the uranium ore extracted from the two locations, which would be enough to generate thousands of mega watts of power. This would be a substantial addition when compared with the existing production of uranium in India.

According to V D Raja Gopal, director, mining, and vice-chairman and managing director of Andhra Pradesh Mining Development Corporation (APMDC), the reserves in these two locations can last up to 30 years at the projected rate of mining. UCIL is planning to produce 1,250 tonne and 3,000 tonne of uranium ore a day from Nalgonda and Kadapa mines respectively.

A kilogram of coal or oil can generate 3-5 KwH (units) of power whereas about 60,000 units of power can be generated from the same quantity of uranium through fission technology.

The proposed availability of uranium from Andhra mines can support an additional installed capacity of over 3,000 Mw, compared with the country's present installed capacity of over 3,500 Mw in the nuclear sector. The country's energy planners propose to increase the nuclear energy capacity to 20,000 Mw by the year 2020.

The compliance report from UCIL on a set of conditions pertaining to safeguards for protecting environment, water bodies and living beings put forth by the environment ministry, as part of the in-principle clearance for uranium mining in Nalgonda, is yet to be submitted to facilitate final clearance.

Meanwhile, the Centre is expected to conduct one more public hearing in Nalgonda before giving the green signal, the sources said.