The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre has developed an innovative techno-economically viable process for the recovery of low-grade uranium from Tummalapalle ore in Andhra Pradesh.

“The objective of making a techno-economically viable process flowsheet is to reduce the number of stages of unit operations and conservations leachants by regeneration and recycle leading to minimisation of fresh water inventory as well as quantum of liquid effluent discharge for the most challenging low-grade uranium ore,” Dr A.K. Suri, Director, Materials Group, BARC, said.

The process technology developed by BARC is being translated for industrial adoption by Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) and the mine and the mill are in advanced stages of completion at Tummalapalle, Dr Suri said in the latest issue of the BARC newsletter.

Natural uranium (which constitutes approximately 99.3 per cent of uranium-238 and 0.7 per cent uranium-235) is the basic raw material for nuclear material in Indian pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWRs). The energy in the reactor is derived from the ‘fission’ of U-235, the only ‘fissile’ isotope in nature.

Dr Suri said a good understanding of the nature of mineralisation of uranium values in the ore, uranium process chemistry and different unit operations, has led to the development of well-integrated specially engineered alkaline leaching process flowsheet to treat the low-grade uranium deposit in the alkaline host rock in Tummalapalle.

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