Bangalore: India is embarking on opening
new uranium mines and boosting nuclear power generation
capacity as fuel supplies are expected to get a major push
from domestic and international sources, a top scientist said.
Chairman of Atomic Energy Commission Anil Kakodkar
said here that the first consignment of 120 tonnes of
uranium pellets had already landed in India, and the
government was engaged in a dialogue with international vendor
countries to get more such supplies.
Kakodkar said the uranium had been delivered under a
kind of a long-term contract (with Russia). "They (Russia)
will keep delivering and we will use it in the reactors, which
we are putting under safeguards," he said.
"We also had a contract with Areva (of France) and
uranium has come from there too," said Kakodkar, also
Secretary in the Department of Atomic Energy.
The scientist said India was talking to a number
countries, but did not name them saying that the discussions
with some countries were "in very fluid stages".
Prospective vendor companies are currently in
discussion mode and have to go through a lot of understanding
about the reactors and their design, among other things, he
said.
Bureau Report
