2 months ago
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The communicative truthful far: In its quest for vigor security, connected March 2, India signed a CAD 2.6 cardinal woody with Canada’s Cameco. The woody ensures a proviso of astir 10,000 tonnes of uranium betwixt 2027 and 2035 to India.
What uranium ‘stocks’ does India have?
India has some home reserves and imported stockpiles of uranium. The home reserves magnitude to 4.2-4.3 lakh tonnes of ore, dispersed crossed the large mines of Jaduguda and Turamdih successful Jharkhand and Tummalapalle successful Andhra Pradesh. The quantum of extractable uranium metallic from the ore is estimated to beryllium 76,000-92,000 tonnes.
The bid of magnitude quality betwixt the ore and the metallic is due to the fact that Indian ore is ‘low grade’ (0.02-0.45% concentration). Canada nevertheless has high-grade ore (10-100x richer than Indian ore). Cameco is besides among the world’s apical 3 largest uranium producers by volume.
India has progressively relied connected imports, which presently conscionable astir three-fourths of the civilian requirement. Aside from the Cameco deal, India besides finalised a proviso statement with Kazatomprom of Kazakhstan, and has ongoing contracts with Uzbekistan and Russia (both with low- to medium-grade ore). The authorities is besides gathering a reserve intended to clasp 5 years’ proviso of substance to support against proviso concatenation shocks.
While importing uranium ore is cheaper than extracting it, it can’t legally beryllium utilized successful atomic weapons. This is wherefore India besides mines ore domestically.
Does the woody impact the 2010 agreement?
The woody with Cameco comes nether the India-Canada Civil Nuclear Cooperation Agreement (NCA). It was signed successful 2010, 2 years aft the Nuclear Suppliers Group issued its ‘clean’ waiver for India, successful crook made imaginable by the 123 atomic agreement betwixt India and U.S.
Unlike the woody with Kazakhstan (which is little intrusive), the NCA requires India to supply “fissionable worldly accounts” to Canada, which critics person often called a flimsy against Indian sovereignty.
On the flip side, the NCA has besides been criticised for tacitly supporting India’s atomic weapons programme: the much uranium India imports for civilian use, the much home uranium it tin vouchsafe for subject use.
How does India usage its uranium?
India presently operates 24 atomic reactors with a procreation capableness of astir 9 GW. The 700-MW pressurised dense h2o reactors (PHWRs) that presently supply 6-7 GW, oregon astir 3%, of India’s full energy usage uranium arsenic fuel. The authorities is committed to summation atomic powerfulness capableness to 100 GW by 2047. Previous attempts to up this publication person been acceptable backmost by issues with onshore acquisition and section protests, however.
Significant amounts of uranium are besides utilized successful probe reactors, similar ‘Dhruva’ successful Trombay, to nutrient aesculapian isotopes specified arsenic technetium-99m and iodine-131 and for precocious materials subject research.
In the 2025-26 Union budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman besides allocated Rs 20,000 crore to make a caller procreation of small modular reactors, which typically usage 3-5% enriched uranium.
Domestic uranium is besides utilized for atomic warheads (currently estimated to fig astir 170) and the nuclear-powered INS Arihant people submarines.
How is India’s atomic powerfulness programme faring?
India is presently transitioning from signifier I to signifier II of the three-stage programme.
In signifier I, PHWRs volition usage earthy uranium-235 to nutrient energy and plutonium-239 arsenic a byproduct. In signifier II, accelerated breeder reactors volition usage a mixed oxide substance of uranium-238 and plutonium-239 to nutrient electricity, uranium-233, and much plutonium-239. (The reactors are called truthful due to the fact that they volition nutrient much substance than they consume.) The prototype accelerated breeder reactor (PFBR) successful Kalpakkam is presently successful an precocious signifier of commissioning.
Finally, precocious dense h2o reactors volition usage plutonium-239 and thorium-232 arsenic fuel, producing energy and uranium-233.
Homi J. Bhabha envisioned this three-stage programme to instrumentality vantage of the information that India hosts 20-25% of the world’s thorium deposits.
However, the programme has been beset by galore delays and outgo overruns. The accelerated breeder trial reactor was built astatine Kalpakkam successful 1977 but the authorities didn’t motion disconnected connected the PFBR until the aboriginal 2000s, acknowledgment successful portion to sanctions against India implicit its atomic tests. The PFBR’s outgo besides astir doubled from Rs 3,492 crore astatine the clip it was designed to much than Rs 6,800 crore successful 2019.
In March 2013, the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) had said successful a reply successful Lok Sabha, “The clip of ample standard thorium deployment is expected to beryllium 3-4 decades aft the commercialized cognition of accelerated breeder reactors with abbreviated doubling time.” Given the PFBR’s ain timeline, this play could beryllium successful the 2060s, if not later.
Former DAE Chairman Anil Kakodkar has explained that the doubling clip — the clip taken for 1 accelerated breeder reactor to nutrient capable substance to commencement a 2nd — is presently 15-20 years. To make 100 GW, then, India has to spell done respective doubling cycles, which could explicate the aggregate deals present to unafraid the proviso of uranium.
mukunth.v@thehindu.co.in
