New JV to acquire uranium assets abroad

India may soon set up a new company to acquire uranium mines in foreign countries to ensure fuel supplies to its burgeoning nuclear power programme.

The Atomic Energy Commission has recommended setting up of a joint venture company between Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited and Uranium Corporation of India Limited to explore the possibility of acquiring uranium assets abroad, Minister of State in the PMO V Narayanasamy informed the Rajya Sabha.

The new entity could be on the lines of ONGC Videsh Limited which has stakes in several oil blocks overseas.

India, which produces 4680 MW of nuclear power from the 19 atomic power plants it operates, has drawn up plans to step up the share of nuclear power in its energy basket upto 32,000 MW by 2032.

The new reactors would be a mix of indigenously developed 700 MW Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR)and Light Water Reactors (LWR) to be set up with foreign collaboration.

The new PHWRs will come up in Fatehabad in Haryana, Chutka in Madhya Pradesh, Rawat Bhata in Rajasthan, Kakrapara in Gujarat and Kaiga in Karnataka.

The LWRs will come up in Jaitapur in Maharashtra in collaboration with France, Chhayamithi Virdi in Gujarat and Kovvada in Andhra Pradesh in collaboration with US companies and Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu and Haripur in West Bengal with Russian companies.