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Guwahati, November 14, 2009

Oil exploration firm Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) Saturday said it has stumbled upon a reserve of uranium while carrying out exploration work in an oilfield in Assam.

“Uranium traces were detected during examination of logs of the Borholla oilfield. Now a joint study is on with the Uranium Corporation to take this entire process forward,”
said A.K. Hazarika, director of ONGC’s onshore operations. The oilfield is about 360 km east of Guwahati. There are more than 20 wells in the Borholla oilfield, apart from several abandoned wells.

With an estimated Rs.5 billion being sanctioned to carry out research and development and pilots for renewable and alternate energy, the two state-run firms have begun examining logs of over 900 oil and gas wells, mainly in Assam, to look for uranium reserves.

“Now the process is on to ascertain and examine all the wells in Borholla for uranium reserves,” Hazarika told reporters here.

This is the first time that uranium traces have been found in an Assam oilfield although other north-eastern states like Meghalaya have rich reserves.

“According to preliminary findings, the uranium reserves could be huge in this area,” another senior ONGC official said.

Surveys conducted by the atomic energy department indicate there could be up to 10,000 tonnes of uranium in and around Domiasiat, about 150 km west of Meghalaya state capital Shillong, the area considered to have the largest sandstone-type deposits in the country.

Meghalaya’s uranium ore reserves are spread over a mountainous terrain in deposits varying from eight to 47 metres underground.


However, Uranium Corp was forced to stop exploration work there in the mid-1990s following protests from villagers. Even now, it has not been able to carry out mining in the state.

Spurred by the recent findings, ONGC is now contemplating setting up a nuclear power plant if its current collaboration with Uranium Corp results in the discovery of uranium in Assam.

ONGC Assam’s oil production is now about 1.2 million tonnes annually.

Assam has over 1.3 billion tonnes of crude oil and 156 billion cubic metres of natural gas reserves, of which about an estimated 58 percent is yet to be explored. India produces about 30 million tonnes of crude oil annually, with Assam accounting for about five million tonnes.

Apart from ONGC, Oil India Ltd (OIL) is the other major exploration firm operating in the north-eastern state.

ONGC also has oil and gas exploration and production operations in countries such as Russia, Vietnam and Sudan.

The Hindu : Business News : ONGC finds uranium reserve in Assam
 
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Sat, Nov 14 11:55 AM

Mumbai, Nov. 14 -- In a first of its kind, Mumbai will play host over the weekend to big international players in the nuclear industry and their Indian counterparts.

Starting on November 13, the three-day expo at the Bombay Exhibition Centre in Goregaon is poised to become the biggest networking meet after the international Nuclear Suppliers' Group lifted restrictions on its member countries last year from transferring civilian nuclear technology and fuel to India, ending its 34-year-old nuclear isolation. A roadmap for the country's nuclear energy business is likely to emerge after the event, which will provide a platform for collaborations between Indian suppliers and large global players like Germany-based Schott Glass, Areva from France and US-based Schneider Electric.

"Apart from other energy sources, nuclear energy has the potential to meet the long-term demand for India's energy security," said M. Gandhi, managing director, UBM India Pvt Ltd, organisers of the event. For India, importing nuclear plants will be an expensive affair in the long run.

"So getting local suppliers to build components for the plant within India based on their technology will help cut both manufacturing and transportation costs, putting us at an advantage," said S.K. Malhotra, public awareness officer, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE). Supported by the Ministry of Power and DAE, the event will host exhibits of 65 companies, offering technology in nuclear energy, conventional and non-conventional energy.
 
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How developed is our nuclear arsenal anyways? Do we have the tech at present to harvest underwater?

regards

Hi,

I don’t know what you imply by ‘nuclear arsenal’? If you are referring to nuclear weapons arsenal then clearly this is not the thread to discuss that. This thread is exclusively meant for discussing developments in the ‘Civil Nuclear’ field.
If you want to know about India’s civil nuclear capabilities, here is a very brief overview I had posted some time back in another thread.

http://www.defence.pk/forums/india-defence/33226-russia-will-not-agree-any-curbs-transfer-sensitive-technologies-india-5.html#post472971

Introduction & chronology

The Indian nuclear program started even before India became an independent nation. Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha submitted a proposal in March 1944 to the Sir Dorab Tata Trust for the establishment of a nuclear research institute. This led to the creation of the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in April 1945. Soon TIFR started its initial work in Bangalore in June 1945 with Bhabha serving as the first director. In December 1945, Bhabha moved TIFR to Bombay where it continues to serve as a research institution today. A year after we attained independence, the Indian Atomic Energy Act was passed. This led to the establishment of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). The AEC would pursue in-depth studies of nuclear energy and was comprised of three members: Dr. Bhabha, Dr. K.S. Krishnan, and Dr. S.S. Bhatnagar.

In August 1950, Indian Rare Earths Limited (IRE) was established to recover minerals and process rare earths compounds and thorium-uranium concentrates. Later in April 1951, uranium deposits were discovered at Jaduguda and drilling operations commenced in December 1951. The Jaduguda mine was the main source of uranium for the entire Indian nuclear program until the present day.
On January 3, 1954, the Atomic Energy Establishment at Trombay (AEET) was created by the AEC. AEET led research on nuclear weapons technology and has been referred to as the “Indian Los Alamos”. The AEET was formally inaugurated on January 20, 1957 and was followed by the creation of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) on August 3, 1954 with Dr. Bhabha as Secretary. The DAE was not under the regular control of the cabinet but reported directly to the Prime Minister. On January 12, 1967 in tribute to Dr. Bhabha, who died in an airplane crash on January 24, 1966 (CIA is suspected to have assassinated him to impede Indian nuclear weapons program), the AEET was renamed as the Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC). During his tenure, Dr. Bhabha also transferred all the scientific initiatives from TIFR to AEET.

3-stage nuclear energy plan

Long before his sad demise, Bhabha in 1954 presented the three-stage nuclear energy plan for national development. Under this plan, India would start its nuclear power in the first-stage with natural uranium fueled, heavy-water moderated Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) reactors to produce power and plutonium. The first-stage reactors would be based on the CANDU technology and would be built with Canadian assistance. These reactors would produce 420 GWe-yrs of electricity. In the second-stage, plutonium would be separated from the spent fuel from the first-stage reactors and used to power fast breeder reactors (FBRs). The FBRs would then generate an additional 54,000 GWe-yrs of electricity. Thorium would be irradiated in the blanket of the FBRs to breed U-233. In the third-stage, the U-233 bred from the second-stage would serve as fuel for the U-233 breeder reactors (Advanced Heavy Water Reactors). These U-233 breeder reactors (AHWRs) would provide 358,000 GWe-yrs of electricity and breed more fissile materials. Breeder reactors are an advanced reactor design in which the reactor breeds additional fuel during operation. Technically, a breeder reactor produces more fuel during operation than it consumes. The breeder reactor achieves this through a design which highly conserves neutrons in the system. These reactors would produce enough excess material to fuel themselves and produce excess for weapons use. The Indian government formally adopted this three-stage plan in 1958 recognizing the importance of nuclear power as a sustainable energy source.

Here is an illustration of the 3-stage nuclear program of India-

60939d5fdc8abfdeb0b4a68085e75efc.jpg

The basis of the three-stage-program was indigenously available technology for production of natural uranium, vast reserves of thorium, and the mastering of heavy water production and spent fuel reprocessing technology. When this program was devised, India did not have any existing power reactors and there were no commercial fast breeder reactor systems anywhere in the world.

Globally unparalleled indigenous capabilities

India is the only country in the world that has accorded a high priority to the use of all the three main fissionable materials- U-235, Pu & U-233, to meet the challenge of reaching energy independence through a well calibrated use of domestic uranium and thorium resources.

The magnitude of R&D in any field is best represented by the number of scientific publications in that area. Hence, I am providing a few statistics to compare India’s capabilities with other much advanced global players.

Publications on PHWR-

098d62e48cdd1844d645da16652ca3d3.jpg

As can be seen from the figure above, India has progressively reached world leadership in the field of PHWRs. Nearly 55% of the scientific publications in the field of PHWRs originated from India in the year 2006.

Publications on FBRs-

c25104792d89f868df2366f648afe1a1.jpg

As seen from the above figure, in the area of FBRs, the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) brought out the largest number of publications by any single institution in the years 2005&06.

Publications on Thorium-

7ee7fc3d112c1b0a7e4e9e4d377ff2e7.jpg

Even in the area of Thorium research, on the basis of International Nuclear Information System (INIS) database, India stands at the top!

Performance in other cutting edge areas

-Radio isotopes

The DAE has made large contributions in the field of application of radio-isotopes in industries, health care, hydrology, food preservation and agriculture. For example, in the field of nuclear agriculture, the mutant ground nut seeds developed at BARC contribute to nearly 25% of total ground nut cultivation in the country. Similarly, in the area of black gram production, the BARC developed mutant seeds contribute to 22% of national cultivation. In the state of Maharashtra this percentage is as high as 95%.

-Cancer research

The Tata Memorial Centre, an aided institution under DAE, was recognized as the outstanding cancer organization for its excellence in cancer control from within and beyond India’s border, by the International Union for Cancer Control, Washington DC in 2006.

-Astronomical research

The Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope (GMRT) built by DAE for TIFR, has become an international tool for astronomical research. In Aug-2004, using this facility, the TIFR scientists and their collaborators discovered a new pulsar.

-CERN

India has an observer status at CERN along with US, Japan, Russia, Turkey and Israel. We are also partners in contributing to the construction and testing of several important systems of this very large international experimental facility now nearing completion.

-ITER

India is one of the seven members of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project. Other members include- the EU, US, Russia, Japan, China & South Korea.

Well that was a very brief description of India’s nuclear capabilities. Hopefully, I have managed to put across my point regarding India’s expertise in this field. Finally, I will end my post by quoting Dr. Siegfried S. Hecker, former director of Los Alamos National Lab, USA.

In his testimony at the US senate committee on appropriations, Subcommittee on enrgy and water development on April 20, 2008, Dr. Hecker said-

"I found that whereas sanctions slowed progress in nuclear energy, they made India self-sufficient and world leaders in fast reactor technology. While much of the world’s approach to India has been to limit its access to nuclear technology, it may well be that today we limit ourselves by not having access to India’s nuclear technology developments. Such technical views should help to advice the diplomatic efforts with India."

-Dr. Siegfried S. Hecker
Former director,
Los Alamos National Lab, USA.

-Skull
 
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Uranium mining in Meghalaya finally takes shape

Shillong (Meghalaya), Nov.14 (ANI): A much-awaited uranium-mining project, which promises development of the remote West Khasi Hills district of Meghalaya, is finally taking shape.

The State government’s decision to allow the Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) to implement its pre-project developmental package has elicited a positive response from locals.

The state has estimated the presence of about 9.22 million tonnes of uranium ore deposits. The UCIL would invest Rs 2.09 billion to undertake pre-developmental project activities to build schools, hospitals, roads and other infrastructure.

For this purpose, the state government has agreed to release 422 square hectares of land for 30 years to the UCIL.

“My press conference is to initiate a more serious debate on the merits and demerits of Uranium mining in the benefits and otherwise on allowing UCIL to start uranium mining right now. I hope that through this press conference it will generate more intelligent debates among the people of the state and I think the state government also should not be in a hurry to take a decision right now. They should allow the public air out their views and opinion on uranium mining,” said Micheal Syiem, a social worker.

“The state government does not have its own fund, it all depends on the central government. So there are still many areas to be developed. So by the fund we receive from the central, it is not enough. So special funds that comes from the government of India that we have found the uranium so it is a blessing to the state. If left to the state alone, it will take years to develop. So now, they have got a road up to Mawthabah from Wahkaji it has been a blessing for them,” said S.H.Shylla, former MLA, West Khasi Hills District.

There were protests against the mining of Uranium by different organisations in the State citing health hazards.

However, the Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research (AMD) has already executed exploratory mining in the area including processing the ore to yellow cake.

It has also confirmed that there will be no spill over effect on health either to the inhabitants or the cattle.

“As a villager of Mawthabah I find that as per the research carried out by the department of Atomic Energy since surveying, drilling up to refining of the yellow cake there is no track of health hazard till date. Even in the place where the grinding machine and the processing plant is laid, now trees have grown and vegetation is green and there are no signs of such affect to the vegetation,” said W.S.Lyngdoh, a villager, Mawthabah.

Various public hearings at the proposed site for open cast mining have also been organised in which residents and headmen of various villages surrounding the proposed uranium project site participated.

The State Government has also constituted an expert committee on health to study the implications of uranium mining. (ANI
 
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Canada Hopes to Conclude India Nuclear Accord Soon

Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Canada, the world’s largest producer of uranium in 2008, expects to reach agreement soon on nuclear cooperation with India as it seeks to increase trade with the South Asian nation.

“It is my sincere hope our governments will soon conclude a civilian nuclear agreement which will enable development of nuclear power for civil use,” Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said in a speech in Mumbai today.

Canada, which sends about 85 percent of its exports to the U.S., had about C$3.7 billion ($3.5 billion) in two-way trade with India in 2007. Trade Minister Stockwell Day said in January he wants to triple trade with India in the next five years. The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding this year that will let Canada play a role in India’s planned building of 25 to 30 nuclear reactors.

India has signed civil nuclear agreements with countries, including the U.S., Russia and France, after a three-decade ban on supplies to the country was lifted in September 2008.

Canada is in discussions with China and India to promote nuclear power generation to help meet rising energy demand in the two Asian countries. India’s reactor demand for uranium may triple in the next 15 years, according to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan-based Cameco Corp., the world’s second-largest producer of uranium.

Australia, holder of the biggest known uranium reserves, doesn’t allow exports of the nuclear fuel to India because the South Asian country hasn’t signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Australia isn’t trying to isolate India on critical nuclear policy concerns, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said on a visit to India last week.

Canada Hopes to Conclude India Nuclear Accord Soon (Update1) - Bloomberg.com
 
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Hope this happens soon...
We need power and lot of them, Nuclear is the way to go along with other greener alternatives. Even after 62 yrs, some villages are yet to see the transmission line, shame on us :(
 
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Sunday, November 15, 2009

MUMBAI: The newly constructed Rajasthan Atomic Power Station's unit 5 (RAPS-5) of 220 MW located at Rawatbhata, which has come under the fold of international safeguards, is likely to be commissioned soon. The imported Uranium fuel from Russia has already been loaded on it under the supervision of IAEA inspectors, Atomic energy department sources said.

Following the notification of the Separation Plan of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last month under which 14 nuclear plants will be under the umbrella of India Specific Safeguards Agreement (ISSA) of international atomic watchdog, RAPS-5 is the first indigenously built unit that has come under international safeguards, the sources said.

Notification of Separation Plan of the specified civilian plants and few scientific institutions to IAEA was some of the conditions to enable international civil nuclear co-operation. The procedures for criticality (chain reaction) of RAPS-5 will begin a nytime during the next seven days as the heavy water, as moderator and coolant, is being loaded on this Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) since yesterday, the sources said.

By the end of this year, the unit will be synchronised to the northern grid.

The Hindu Business Line : RAPS-5 likely to be commissioned soon
 
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