Andhra uranium mine set to fuel nuclear power output to 7-year high

At a time when coal and gas shortages have crippled operations at nearly everyone of India’s thermal stations, a boost in nuclear fuel is set to take atomic power generation to a seven-year record next fiscal. With supplies from a new uranium mine and dispensation facility at Tummalapalle in Andhra Pradesh set to commence later this year, the capacity factor of the 20 operational nuclear reactors, adding together up to an installed capacity of 4,780 MWe, is now projected to top 80 per cent in 2012-13, according to latest estimates drawn by the Department of Atomic Energy. Uranium imports from Russia, France and Kazakhstan have previously helped half the nuclear fleet achieve near-optimal operations.

In 2006-07, the capacity factor was 64 per cent, but plummet to 50 per cent in 2008-09. (The ability factor is the ratio of the actual output to its output if operated at full potential.) It bounced back to 61 per cent in 2009-10 and increased further to 71 per cent in 2010-11. In the first nine months of this economic it has reached 78 per cent.

This marks a whole turnaround from the uranium shortage that stymied nuclear power generation for much of the second half of the last decade. Fuel imports from the three countries that supply uranium to India are now additional than what is required by the ten reactors under international safeguards. “Currently, ten reactors are fuelled by indigenous fuel, which is not accessible in the required quantity. So these are organism operated at lower power levels,” said an official.

NPC, Uranium Corp to form JV to obtain uranium mines abroad

Nuclear Power Corporation (NPC) would soon sign an contract with Uranium Corporation of India (UCI), both state-run companies, for a shared venture to acquire mining assets abroad to procure uranium. They are looking at mining property in Nigeria, Namibia, Mongolia and Kazakhstan. The JV would also focus on the procurement of uranium from these property, as well as other sources. NPC's chairman and managing director, S K Jain, tell Business Standard; "UCI has domain knowledge in uranium mining, while NPC has the essential funds for the proposed investments. NPC will have a mass stake of 74 per cent, while 26 per cent would be held by UCI in the proposed JV.

The JV would have a working capital of Rs 1,500 crore and it plan to invest Rs 5,000 crore over the next five years in the gaining of mining assets in the four shortlisted countries." NPC has already formed a JV with NTPC and Indian Oil Corporation for the building of atomic power plants in the country. NPC, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd and Alstom Power have also teamed for supply turbines for the indigenous 720-Mw Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors. NPC is involved in rising nuclear capacity to 63,000 Mw by 2032. UCI, with its headquarters at Jaduguda (Jharkhand), is operating five underground mines, one open-case mine and two ore dispensation units, also in Jharkhand.

Two more underground uranium mines in this area are under construction. In addition, three large uranium mining and processing projects have been intended, two in Andhra Pradesh and one in Meghalaya. Jain said: "Investment decisions will be based on different stages of mining in the proposed assets. In some mines, a first-level examination is done, while there will be a few mines where wide investigation has been done by digging of bore holes. In some mines, uranium treasury is over 5,000 tonnes. There will be somewhere the JV can put in funds to expand a processing mill to produce yellow cake." He admit India's uranium was of low quality and NPC would have to rely on several sources for the operations of the new high-powered reactors.