Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL) is hopeful of getting the renewal of Jaduguda uranium ore mine lease soon to maintain the production of fuel to power reactors. "The Jaduguda mine is closed since September 7 but the impact on production of uranium for nuclear power plants was minimal as we had managed using the ore stock pile so far to maintain the production level. But that stock is now depleted," UCIL Chairman and Managing Director D Acharya told PTI.
"Jaduguda mine helps to produce around 25 per cent of fuel to the nuclear power reactors of the country and is rich in quality. We hope to get the lease approval soon which will help us to maintain production level."
The mine lease had expired long back, he said adding though the company had not received any intimation yet about renewal of the lease but there were reports that government had cleared it.
Jaduguda mine's uranium ore supply accounts for 25 per cent of raw-material that fuel 5,000 megawattt (MW) of nuclear power generation of the country. It is the first uranium mine of the country where mining operations began in 1967 and its current capacity is 1,000 tonnes of uranium ore per day. The mine was closed following a Jharkhand government order after the Centre's July 18 directive asking states to clamp down on mines operating under second or third deemed renewals.
On the same ground, the state also closed down 12 out of the 17 operational iron ore mines in Jharkhand impacting companies, including SAIL and Tata Steel.
