The story thus far: In its quest for vitality safety, on March 2, India signed a CAD 2.6 billion take care of Canada’s Cameco. The deal ensures a provide of round 10,000 tonnes of uranium between 2027 and 2035 to India.
What uranium ‘shares’ does India have?
India has each home reserves and imported stockpiles of uranium. The home reserves quantity to 4.2-4.3 lakh tonnes of ore, unfold throughout the key mines of Jaduguda and Turamdih in Jharkhand and Tummalapalle in Andhra Pradesh. The quantum of extractable uranium metallic from the ore is estimated to be 76,000-92,000 tonnes.
The order of magnitude distinction between the ore and the metallic is as a result of Indian ore is ‘low grade’ (0.02-0.45% focus). Canada nonetheless has high-grade ore (10-100x richer than Indian ore). Cameco can be among the many world’s prime three largest uranium producers by quantity.
India has more and more relied on imports, which at present meet almost three-fourths of the civilian requirement. Except for the Cameco deal, India additionally finalised a provide settlement with Kazatomprom of Kazakhstan, and has ongoing contracts with Uzbekistan and Russia (each with low- to medium-grade ore). The federal government can be constructing a reserve supposed to carry 5 years’ provide of gas to guard in opposition to provide chain shocks.
Whereas importing uranium ore is cheaper than extracting it, it could possibly’t legally be utilized in nuclear weapons. For this reason India additionally mines ore domestically.
Does the deal contain the 2010 settlement?
The take care of Cameco comes below the India-Canada Civil Nuclear Cooperation Settlement (NCA). It was signed in 2010, two years after the Nuclear Suppliers Group issued its ‘clear’ waiver for India, in flip made doable by the 123 nuclear settlement between India and U.S.
Not like the take care of Kazakhstan (which is much less intrusive), the NCA requires India to supply “fissionable materials accounts” to Canada, which critics have usually referred to as a slight in opposition to Indian sovereignty.
On the flip aspect, the NCA has additionally been criticised for tacitly supporting India’s nuclear weapons programme: the extra uranium India imports for civilian use, the extra home uranium it could possibly vouchsafe for navy use.
How does India use its uranium?
India at present operates 24 nuclear reactors with a era capability of round 9 GW. The 700-MW pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWRs) that at present present 6-7 GW, or roughly 3%, of India’s complete electrical energy use uranium as gas. The federal government is dedicated to extend nuclear energy capability to 100 GW by 2047. Earlier makes an attempt to up this contribution have been set again by points with land acquisition and native protests, nonetheless.
Vital quantities of uranium are additionally utilized in analysis reactors, like ‘Dhruva’ in Trombay, to supply medical isotopes comparable to technetium-99m and iodine-131 and for superior supplies science analysis.
Within the 2025-26 Union finances, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman additionally allotted Rs 20,000 crore to develop a brand new era of small modular reactors, which usually use 3-5% enriched uranium.
Home uranium can be used for nuclear warheads (at present estimated to quantity round 170) and the nuclear-powered INS Arihant class submarines.
How is India’s nuclear energy programme faring?
India is at present transitioning from stage I to stage II of the three-stage programme.
In stage I, PHWRs will use pure uranium-235 to supply electrical energy and plutonium-239 as a byproduct. In stage II, quick breeder reactors will use a combined oxide gas of uranium-238 and plutonium-239 to supply electrical energy, uranium-233, and extra plutonium-239. (The reactors are referred to as so as a result of they are going to produce extra gas than they eat.) The prototype quick breeder reactor (PFBR) in Kalpakkam is at present in a sophisticated stage of commissioning.
Lastly, superior heavy water reactors will use plutonium-239 and thorium-232 as gas, producing electrical energy and uranium-233.
Homi J. Bhabha envisioned this three-stage programme to make the most of the truth that India hosts 20-25% of the world’s thorium deposits.
Nonetheless, the programme has been beset by quite a few delays and value overruns. The quick breeder take a look at reactor was constructed at Kalpakkam in 1977 however the authorities didn’t log out on the PFBR till the early 2000s, thanks partly to sanctions in opposition to India over its nuclear exams. The PFBR’s price additionally almost doubled from Rs 3,492 crore on the time it was designed to greater than Rs 6,800 crore in 2019.
In March 2013, the Division of Atomic Power (DAE) had stated in a reply in Lok Sabha, “The time of huge scale thorium deployment is anticipated to be 3-4 many years after the industrial operation of quick breeder reactors with brief doubling time.” Given the PFBR’s personal timeline, this era could possibly be within the 2060s, if not later.
Former DAE Chairman Anil Kakodkar has defined that the doubling time — the time taken for one quick breeder reactor to supply sufficient gas to begin a second — is at present 15-20 years. To generate 100 GW, then, India has to undergo a number of doubling cycles, which may clarify the a number of offers now to safe the provision of uranium.
Printed – March 05, 2026 04:29 pm IST