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Mineweb.com - The world's premier mining and mining investment website Protest against uranium mines in India could unravel a $500bn nuclear plan - URANIUM | Mineweb
MUMBAI -
The state of Andhra Pradesh in India was poised to become a major uranium hub, contributing almost 25% of the nuclear fuel for India's future nuclear energy needs. However, Uranium Corporation of India's proposal to expand the production of uranium mining in Thumalapalle in Kadapa district in Andhra Pradesh has come under fire.
Members of the National Alliance for People's Movement have opposed the project and the permission granted to the company's expansion plans. Officials have said the uranium mining would be hazardous to the people living in the region.
It is not just this project. Across India, protests have been growing against old and new nuclear power plants. Nuclear power plants are proposed at Haripur in West Bengal, Mithi Virdi in Gujarat, Madban in Maharashtra, Chutka in Madhya Pradesh and Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh.
The country aims to produce 20,000 mw of nuclear power by the year 2020. Analysts have estimated its atomic energy market at $150-200 billion, predicted to rise to $500 billion if plans are implemented as targeted. The latest developments could however, put a paid to the plan.
Speaking about Andhra Pradesh, analysts said that Tummalapalle and adjoining areas in Super Basin in Kadapa are set to emerge as one of the major uranium provinces in the world, with almost a dozen new places with vast uranium resources being identified there.
It is estimated that as much as five hundred thousand tonnes of uranium resources can be extracted in the Super Basin in Kadapa. Moreover, uranium mineralisation in Vempalle extends over a 160 km belt from Maddimadugu to Chelumpalli, with the area turning into a potential zone for uranium exploitation. As many as 10 new blocks have been identified within a radius of 30 km around Tummalapalle, analysts have said.
However, protesters have noted that the local villagers in the region have been facing an acute shortage of ground water, with the district officials forbidding the digging of new borewells. Earlier, a section of the villagers of Peddamula village had stopped the ongoing reconnaissance survey of uranium deposits near Chitriyal village in Chandampet, in Andhra Pradesh.
Anti-uranium activists had also launched a protest walk earlier to mobilise public support against the Uranium Corporation of India's proposal to set up uranium mining and processing units at Peddagattu and Seripally..
A Human Rights Forum state official had flayed the government's insistence on going ahead with the project when local tribes expressed their opposition against it. ``Development should not be at the cost of people. Sustained development with people's involvement is the need the hour,'' he said.
In jeopardy
With India's annual domestic uranium production expected to double to about 800 tonnes by 2014 from mines in the eastern state of Jharkhand and the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, the opposition to the project has come as a severe setback.
India has been developing a new mine in Tummalapalle in Andhra Pradesh with reserves of 49,000 tonnes. According to a report tabled by the government, an additional 22,500 tonnes of additional uranium resources has been established in Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Meghalaya taking the country's uranium resources to about 1,62,000 tonnes.
India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has also reaffirmed the country's commitment to harness nuclear energy for sustainable economic growth.
According to the World Nuclear Association, India has 20 reactors in operation, and four under construction. The country expects to have 20,000 MW of nuclear capacity by 2020 and 63,000 MW by 2032.
But opposition to many projects could well derail this. Take the case of the Jaitapur plant.
The 9,900 mw Jaitapur nuclear power plant, consisting of six nuclear reactors in Madban village, Ratnagiri district, in Maharashtra, was to be the world's largest nuclear power plant. French state owned nuclear engineering firm Areva and India's Nuclear Power Corporation of India had signed a $22-billion agreement in December 2010, to build six nuclear reactors in the presence of Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President.
However, in the wake of the nuclear tragedy at Fukushima in Japan, there has been severe opposition to the setting up of the French European Pressurised Reactors at the proposed Jaitapur nuclear facility, on the grounds that the reactors are of recent origin and therefore, unproven.
French Ambassador to India Jerome Bonnafont has been quoted by newswire agencies as saying that a conference has been scheduled for June 7, to discuss the matter among members of governments in charge of nuclear energy, to improve the safety systems and standards of atomic power plants.
This will be followed in August by the findings of the People's Tribunal on the Safety, Viability and Cost Efficiency of Nuclear Energy on the Jaitapur nuclear power project.
Shoring up
Over the next two decades, India has said it is aiming to increase its atomic energy generation capacity 13-fold. The country is in talks with Kazakhstan, Niger and Namibia to acquire uranium mines, even as talks are on with Canada for importing the reactor fuel.
Besides Tummalapalee, there are six mines in Jharkhand which produce 400 tonnes of uranium a year, along with the project at Lambapur in Andhra Pradesh and in Hubli, Karnataka. According to an official of the Uranium Corporation of India, huge uranium reserves have been identified at Lambapur-Peddagattu region in Nalgonda district of Andhra Pradesh.
Analysts tracking the sector have said that Indian companies have announced about $7 billion of overseas energy acquisitions since January 2010, as compared with $37 billion of bids by Chinese companies.
Opposition to several uranium projects within India could well ensure that India emerges as a buyer of uranium companies around the world, increasing competition for a limited number of assets.
MUMBAI -
The state of Andhra Pradesh in India was poised to become a major uranium hub, contributing almost 25% of the nuclear fuel for India's future nuclear energy needs. However, Uranium Corporation of India's proposal to expand the production of uranium mining in Thumalapalle in Kadapa district in Andhra Pradesh has come under fire.
Members of the National Alliance for People's Movement have opposed the project and the permission granted to the company's expansion plans. Officials have said the uranium mining would be hazardous to the people living in the region.
It is not just this project. Across India, protests have been growing against old and new nuclear power plants. Nuclear power plants are proposed at Haripur in West Bengal, Mithi Virdi in Gujarat, Madban in Maharashtra, Chutka in Madhya Pradesh and Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh.
The country aims to produce 20,000 mw of nuclear power by the year 2020. Analysts have estimated its atomic energy market at $150-200 billion, predicted to rise to $500 billion if plans are implemented as targeted. The latest developments could however, put a paid to the plan.
Speaking about Andhra Pradesh, analysts said that Tummalapalle and adjoining areas in Super Basin in Kadapa are set to emerge as one of the major uranium provinces in the world, with almost a dozen new places with vast uranium resources being identified there.
It is estimated that as much as five hundred thousand tonnes of uranium resources can be extracted in the Super Basin in Kadapa. Moreover, uranium mineralisation in Vempalle extends over a 160 km belt from Maddimadugu to Chelumpalli, with the area turning into a potential zone for uranium exploitation. As many as 10 new blocks have been identified within a radius of 30 km around Tummalapalle, analysts have said.
However, protesters have noted that the local villagers in the region have been facing an acute shortage of ground water, with the district officials forbidding the digging of new borewells. Earlier, a section of the villagers of Peddamula village had stopped the ongoing reconnaissance survey of uranium deposits near Chitriyal village in Chandampet, in Andhra Pradesh.
Anti-uranium activists had also launched a protest walk earlier to mobilise public support against the Uranium Corporation of India's proposal to set up uranium mining and processing units at Peddagattu and Seripally..
A Human Rights Forum state official had flayed the government's insistence on going ahead with the project when local tribes expressed their opposition against it. ``Development should not be at the cost of people. Sustained development with people's involvement is the need the hour,'' he said.
In jeopardy
With India's annual domestic uranium production expected to double to about 800 tonnes by 2014 from mines in the eastern state of Jharkhand and the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, the opposition to the project has come as a severe setback.
India has been developing a new mine in Tummalapalle in Andhra Pradesh with reserves of 49,000 tonnes. According to a report tabled by the government, an additional 22,500 tonnes of additional uranium resources has been established in Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Meghalaya taking the country's uranium resources to about 1,62,000 tonnes.
India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has also reaffirmed the country's commitment to harness nuclear energy for sustainable economic growth.
According to the World Nuclear Association, India has 20 reactors in operation, and four under construction. The country expects to have 20,000 MW of nuclear capacity by 2020 and 63,000 MW by 2032.
But opposition to many projects could well derail this. Take the case of the Jaitapur plant.
The 9,900 mw Jaitapur nuclear power plant, consisting of six nuclear reactors in Madban village, Ratnagiri district, in Maharashtra, was to be the world's largest nuclear power plant. French state owned nuclear engineering firm Areva and India's Nuclear Power Corporation of India had signed a $22-billion agreement in December 2010, to build six nuclear reactors in the presence of Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President.
However, in the wake of the nuclear tragedy at Fukushima in Japan, there has been severe opposition to the setting up of the French European Pressurised Reactors at the proposed Jaitapur nuclear facility, on the grounds that the reactors are of recent origin and therefore, unproven.
French Ambassador to India Jerome Bonnafont has been quoted by newswire agencies as saying that a conference has been scheduled for June 7, to discuss the matter among members of governments in charge of nuclear energy, to improve the safety systems and standards of atomic power plants.
This will be followed in August by the findings of the People's Tribunal on the Safety, Viability and Cost Efficiency of Nuclear Energy on the Jaitapur nuclear power project.
Shoring up
Over the next two decades, India has said it is aiming to increase its atomic energy generation capacity 13-fold. The country is in talks with Kazakhstan, Niger and Namibia to acquire uranium mines, even as talks are on with Canada for importing the reactor fuel.
Besides Tummalapalee, there are six mines in Jharkhand which produce 400 tonnes of uranium a year, along with the project at Lambapur in Andhra Pradesh and in Hubli, Karnataka. According to an official of the Uranium Corporation of India, huge uranium reserves have been identified at Lambapur-Peddagattu region in Nalgonda district of Andhra Pradesh.
Analysts tracking the sector have said that Indian companies have announced about $7 billion of overseas energy acquisitions since January 2010, as compared with $37 billion of bids by Chinese companies.
Opposition to several uranium projects within India could well ensure that India emerges as a buyer of uranium companies around the world, increasing competition for a limited number of assets.
