The Hindu Business Line : Govt to act fast on sourcing uranium from non-NSG countries

New Delhi, April 23 With new nuclear power units faced with commissioning delays on account of an ongoing fuel crunch and existing stations starving for fuel, India has decided to expeditiously pursue the option of sourcing uranium from non-NSG (nuclear suppliers group) countries, starting with Namibia.

While the Indian Government has already initiated deliberations for exploring a long-term relationship in uranium supply from the south-west African nation’s vast reserves, formal dialogue is likely soon. The African nation of Niger is also being seen as a likely option.

“The matter has been discussed with the Foreign Secretary and the Atomic Energy Commission Chairman and the consensus was that this (sourcing fuel from non-NSG nations) was an option to be pursued immediately,” the Minister of State for Power and Commerce, Mr Jairam Ramesh, told Business Line.

Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd’s new units — RAPS 5 and 6, and Kaiga 4 — are facing delays beyond their June 2008 commissioning schedule due to lack of uranium. These new units cumulatively add up to 440 MWe of fresh nuclear power capacity. Existing nuclear stations recorded a PLF (plant load factor) of 46.4 per cent in March, mainly as fuel shortages affected generation.

N- energy

Nuclear energy contributes less than three per cent of the country’s installed generation capacity. India is not well endowed with uranium ore and the short supply of the fuel is becoming the stumbling block for the rapid expansion of nuclear power in the country. India’s request for sourcing uranium from the south-west African nation has been conveyed to the Namibian Prime Minister, Mr Nahas Angula. Namibia is Africa’s biggest producer of uranium, after Niger. Namibia’s arid Erongo region is the focal point of the country’s uranium mining boom. UraMin Inc, a unit of France’s Areva SA, is set to open the African nation’s biggest uranium mine in July this year, while the Perth-based Bannerman Resources Ltd and the Vancouver-based Xemplar Energy Corporation are among companies already exploring for the nuclear fuel in the country.

The 45-member NSG currently has a stranglehold on the global nuclear commerce, controlling close to an estimated 80 per cent of the world’s uranium reserves and about 78 per cent of its production.

Namibia and Niger, along with Uzbekistan, are the three major non-NSG countries producing sizeable amounts of uranium. Namibia has up to nine per cent of the world’s uranium resources.

India stance

India is currently restricted from importing uranium from the NSG countries because it is outside the nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT).

The Indo-US civilian nuclear deal seeks to bring in a special exemption for India from the NSG precondition, but progress on the pact has been slow in light of domestic opposition from the Government’s Left allies to it, because of which India has also been unable to finalise country-specific safeguards with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

The NSG has also yet to formally consider a possible exemption for India from NSG’s restrictive rules.

A catch, however, could be that non-NSG countries such as Namibia and Niger are party to the 1996 African Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Treaty (the Treaty of Pelindaba), which aims at establishing a nuclear-weapons free zone in Africa.

According to experts, once the treaty comes into force, these member-nations could also seek full-scope safeguards for any transfer of nuclear material to non-Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty states, including India.

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