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The big increase in uranium reserves estimated in Tummalapalle in Andhra Pradesh has given a boost to prospecting efforts for new finds.
The Atomic Minerals Directorate (AMD) has now initiated the process of drilling in the Mahaboobnagar and Kurnool districts of Andhra Pradesh.
As a step in this direction, the AMD — the exploration and research firm under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) — has invited bids from drilling contractors for 2,000 metres of down-the-hole drilling in Amaragiri and Sangameswaram areas of Kolhapur-Yaparla sector in Mahaboobnagar and Kurnool districts of the State.
The DTH drilling process is one of the fastest ways to drill hard rock and involves rigs drilling large-diameter holes downwards in an earmarked area.
At Mahaboobnagar and Kurnool, boreholes of depth varying from 70 to 120 metres are to be drilled as part of the prospecting effort.
Tummalapalle reserves
The Department had recently said that Tummalapalle could have one of the largest uranium reserves in the world. While studies had earlier pointed to confirmed reserve of 49,000 tonnes at the site, recent surveys indicated that this figure could go up even three fold.
Admitting that the increased reserves estimated at Tummalapalle has given a leg-up to the uranium prospecting efforts in the country, the DAE spokesperson, Dr S.K. Malhotra, said the new drilling in Andhra Pradesh is part of AMD's prospecting efforts for new finds.
“This (drilling plans for Kolhapur-Yaparla) is not part of the Tummalapalle find… There are various steps in prospecting and AMD keeps carrying out new surveys.”
Uranium prospecting is similar to other forms of mineral exploration, with the exception of some specialised instruments for detecting the presence of radioactive isotopes.
A deposit of uranium, discovered by geophysical techniques, is evaluated and sampled to determine the amounts of uranium materials that are extractable at specified costs from the deposit.
The field activities by the AMD for uranium investigations generally commence with remote sensing studies and airborne surveys, followed by ground geological, geochemical, geophysical surveys on different scales.
Once ground anomalies have been established by these methods, their subsurface continuity is probed by drilling.
As and when a deposit is established, it is handed over to Uranium Corporation of India Ltd, which is also under the DAE, for commercial exploitation.
The country currently has 20 nuclear reactors units with a total capacity of 4,780 MW in operation and seven more with a capacity of 5,300 MW are under construction.
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