The Hindu Business Line : Too optimistic?

According to some Atomic Energy Department officials half of the uranium sources in India have already been exhausted. The Nuclear Power Corporation seems too optimistic in achieving the original target of installed nuclear power capacity of 20,000 MWe by 2020, since the uranium needed has to be obtained by mining. One cannot be certain about the prospects.

In this context, it must be pointed out that indigenous ore contains only 2 per cent uranium, whereas Australian ore yields 14 per cent. South Australia has 40 per cent of the world’s uranium sources. The Premier of South Australia, a prominent Labour Party leader, virulently opposed the present Prime Minister Howard’s offer of uranium to India because it has refused to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT).

Dr Manmohan Singh, by signing the 123 agreement with the US, has signed by proxy the NPT. For the agreement has abandoned future nuclear tests for the sake of nuclear fuel and equipment.

For India the best source for atomic power is thorium, abundantly available in the sea sands of Kerala. The former President engineer-scientist, Mr Abdul Kalam, has suggested seeking foreign technology to tap this source. The Nuclear Power Corporation can fund research and development work on tapping thorium by Indian scientists and engineers, along with intensifying mining activity in areas with uranium deposits.

N. Hariharan Coimbatore