Excelsior Correspondent
NEW DELHI, Mar 4: In reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) of the Ministry of Development of Northeastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh stated that India is importing Uranium from France, Russia, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. He said that in order to meet the fuel requirements of Nuclear Reactors in India, the Department Atomic Energy has been importing Uranium ore under contractual agreements with M/s. Areva of France, M/s. JSC TVEL of Russia, M/s. NAC Kazatomprom of Kazakhstan and M/s. Navoi Mining and Metallurgical Combinat of Uzbekistan. As a result of the import of Uranium, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguarded nuclear reactors are running at optimum levels, he added.
Dr. Jitendra Singh further elaborated that India has 21 Nuclear power Reactors currently under operation with an installed generating capacity of 5780 MW. Out of these, 13 Reactors with a capacity of 3380 MW are located at Tarapur, Maharashtra, Rawatbhata, Rajasthan, Kakropar, Gujarat, Naroda, Uttar Pradesh and Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu which are eligible for imported fuels. However, one Reactor located at Rawatbhata, Rajasthan with a capacity of 100 MW is under extended shutdown for techno-economic assessment, he added. Another 8 reactors with a total installed capacity of 2400 MW are located at Tarapur ,Maharashtra, Chennai, Tamilnadu and Kaiga ,Karnataka, he informed.
Dr Jitendra Singh referred to several steps taken by Government in recent past to increase indigenous Uranium supply by opening of new mines and processing facilities in order to narrow down the demand-supply gap. With the extensive work for exploration of Uranium in the country, the supply of Uranium from Indian mines is also progressively increasing, he added.
As a part of this initiative, new mines and processing facilities have also been opened at Tummalapalle in Andhra Pradesh, he informed. In addition, exploration activities are in progress in other areas as well and new deposits being established which will be mined in course of time.
Allaying fears in certain quarters that residents living in the neighbourhood of these installations are at any kind of risk, Dr. Jitendra Singh clarified, leave aside the neighbours, even among the employees of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), the incidents of medical conditions is negligible which is an evidence to say that the incidence of medical hazard to the population is in keeping with the normal trends and not in any way higher.
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