The Department of Atomic Energy is keen on taking up mining of uranium in Nalgonda district in Telangana and the work on the second campus of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), also called BARC-II in Visakhapatnam, is expected to begin in a couple of years.
This was stated by BARC Director, Dr. Sekhar Basu and DAE public affairs spokesperson, S.K. Malhotra, Head, Public Awareness Division, DAE at a press conference here on Tuesday, which was organised in connection with a four-day workshop that began on Tuesday.
Strategic facilities
Dr. Basu said BARC-II, coming up on a 4,000-acre site in Vizag would be bigger than the existing one at Trombay. It would house strategic facilities with advanced technologies, including a high flux reactor. Besides reprocessing fuel, it would produce radio-isotopes required for the entire country.
Observing that the facility would be futuristic and hi-tech, he wanted Andhra Pradesh government to support it.
Atomic Minerals Division (AMD) Director, Pratap Singh Parihar, said 18,000 tonnes of uranium deposits were identified at Peddagattu, Lambapur and Chitrial.
It was a shallow deposit and the uranium concentration was 0.6 per cent as against 0.3 per cent in Tummalapalle in Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh.
Mr. Malhotra said that DAE was keen to take up mining in Nalgonda and pointed out that the deposits were better than those found in Thumalapalle.
He said DAE would take up the issue with the Telangana government.
Mr. Parihar said that uranium deposits of one lakh tonnes were identified at Tummalapalle up to a depth of 500 metres and the quantity could double if the exploration was done up to 800 metres depth.
Dr. P. Chellapandi, CMD, Bhavini, said the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor at Kalpakkam was expected to go critical by July end or in August.
After carrying out some necessary tests, the electricity generation would be sequentially increased to 50-60 per cent and the facility would be fully operational to produce 500 MWe by September, 2016.
The workshop will mainly focus on design, construction, operation and maintenance of Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors, Light Water Reactors and Fast Breeder Reactors and related nuclear fuel cycle activities.
