Uranium

Topic: Energy Resources of India: Conventional and Non-conventional · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 5 "Minerals and Energy Resources"; Class 12, Ch 5 "Mineral and Energy Resources"

Meaning

Uranium is a heavy, radioactive metal. It is the main fuel of India's nuclear reactors: when its atoms split, they give off heat that is used to make electricity. It matters because India has little uranium, and most of it is low grade. This shortage shaped India's three-stage nuclear power programme and its reliance on imported fuel.

Explanation

How uranium gives energy

• Fission (the splitting of the centre, or nucleus, of a heavy atom) is how uranium releases energy.
• A neutron hits a uranium nucleus, and the nucleus splits into two smaller atoms.
• The split gives off a lot of heat and more neutrons. These neutrons split more atoms. This is a controlled chain reaction [3].

• The heat turns water into high-pressure steam. The steam spins a turbine, and the turbine runs a generator that makes electricity [3].

• Criticality is the point where a steady chain reaction begins. Here, the neutrons made by fission equal the neutrons lost, so the power output stays stable [2].

• Result: baseload power (the minimum electricity the grid needs all day and all night) that is also low-carbon. Its lifecycle emissions are similar to those of hydro and wind power [2].

Types of uranium: fissile and fertile

• U-235 is fissile. Fissile fuel can keep a chain reaction going by itself [3].
• U-238 is fertile. Fertile material cannot keep a chain reaction going. Inside a reactor it first changes into fissile fuel [3].

• In a fast breeder reactor, fast neutrons turn a U-238 blanket around the core into fissile Pu-239 (plutonium) [2].

• Natural uranium is uranium used as it is mined, without enrichment. India's PHWRs (pressurised heavy water reactors) run on natural uranium, so they need no enrichment plants [3].

• Heavy water (water in which ordinary hydrogen is replaced by deuterium, a heavier form of hydrogen) works as both the moderator (it slows neutrons so they can split natural uranium) and the coolant (it carries heat away from the core).

Geological conditions: where uranium forms

• Uranium occurs in very old Dharwar rocks.
• These are Precambrian rocks, about 2.5 to 1.8 billion years old.

• They are rich in metallic minerals, so uranium is found alongside them, for example in the Singhbhum copper belt.

• India's uranium is low grade.

• Each tonne of rock holds only a little uranium, so domestic supply falls short and imports must make up the gap [3].
• Ore is processed to get uranium out of the rock. At Tummalapalle this is done by alkali pressure leaching, which produces sodium diuranate [5].

Uranium's role in the three-stage programme

• Homi J. Bhabha proposed the three-stage programme in 1954 [3]. It exists because India has little uranium but a lot of thorium [2].
• Stage 1: PHWRs burn natural uranium. Their spent fuel is reprocessed to recover plutonium [2].
• Stage 2: fast breeder reactors use uranium-plutonium MOX (mixed oxide) fuel and breed more plutonium [2].
• Stage 3: thorium is turned into U-233, which becomes the main fuel [2].
• So uranium is the starting fuel that will finally make India's thorium usable.

Where it occurs

Main uranium areas of India

Area	State	Key fact
Jaduguda, Singhbhum copper belt	Jharkhand	India's first uranium mine (1967). Lies in the Chota Nagpur plateau
Udaipur, Alwar, Jhunjhunu	Rajasthan	Aravalli belt
Durg	Chhattisgarh	—
Bhandara	Maharashtra	—
Kullu	Himachal Pradesh	A Himalayan occurrence
Tummalapalle	Andhra Pradesh (YSR Kadapa district)	Large newer deposit with 60,000 tonnes of uranium, and more still being found. Mine commissioned on 20 April 2012. It can produce 3,000 tonnes of ore a day [5]

• Tummalapalle was the first project that UCIL (Uranium Corporation of India Ltd) ran outside Jharkhand [5].
• Total resources: the Atomic Minerals Directorate (AMD) has proved about 4,36,700 tonnes of in-situ U₃O₈ in 47 deposits (2025) [6].

• These deposits are in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Maharashtra [6].

• Imports from the world:

• The 2008 NSG waiver let India import uranium fuel even though it has not signed the NPT. The NSG (Nuclear Suppliers Group) is the group of countries that controls nuclear trade.

• India has signed civil nuclear cooperation agreements with 18 countries (2026) [2].

• Where uranium is used: India has 24 reactors with 8.78 GW of capacity (2026) [3]. They are mostly PHWRs, for example at Rawatbhata (Rajasthan), Kaiga (Karnataka) and Kakrapar (Gujarat) [3].

Don't confuse with

• Thorium: uranium comes from hard Dharwar rocks (Singhbhum, Kadapa). Thorium comes from monazite in coastal placer sands (Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Odisha). Th-232 is fertile and cannot run a reactor by itself [3].
• U-235 vs U-238: U-235 is fissile and keeps a chain reaction going. U-238 is fertile and must first change into Pu-239 [3].
• Plutonium: it is not mined. It is made in reactors from U-238 and recovered by reprocessing spent fuel [2].
• Natural vs enriched uranium: India's PHWRs use natural uranium with no enrichment [3]. Under the SHANTI Act, 2025, enrichment beyond notified limits stays with the Central Government [4].

Prelims Hooks

• First uranium mine: Jaduguda, Singhbhum, Jharkhand (1967).
• Tummalapalle: YSR Kadapa district, Andhra Pradesh. Commissioned on 20 April 2012. It was UCIL's first project outside Jharkhand [5].
• Host rock: uranium is found in Dharwar (Precambrian) rocks. Trap: it does not come from beach sands. Beach sands give thorium (monazite).
• Resource size: about 4,36,700 tonnes of in-situ U₃O₈ in 47 deposits (2025) [6].
• Stage 1 fuel: PHWRs use natural uranium, with no enrichment needed [3].
• Import route: the 2008 NSG waiver allowed uranium imports even though India has not signed the NPT. India has civil nuclear agreements with 18 countries (2026) [2].

Mains Points

• Resource mismatch shapes strategy (GS-III):
• India's uranium is limited and low grade [3], but its thorium reserves are among the world's largest [2].
• So India chose a closed fuel cycle (spent fuel is reprocessed and reused): uranium → plutonium → U-233. The PFBR's first criticality on 6 April 2026 took India into Stage 2 [2].

• Until Stage 3 is ready, imported uranium (after the 2008 NSG waiver) and fleet-mode PHWRs fill the gap.

• Distribution pattern (GS-I):

• Uranium comes from the old rocks of the Peninsular shield: Singhbhum in Jharkhand and the Kadapa basin in Andhra Pradesh, with smaller deposits in the Aravallis and the Himalaya.

• Power stations, however, sit on the coast or near big rivers because they need cooling water. So mines and reactors are often far apart, and fuel has to be transported over long distances.

• Energy security and climate (GS-III):

• Nuclear power gave only 3.1% of India's electricity in 2024-25 [2].
• The targets are 22.38 GW by 2031-32 [2] and 100 GW by 2047 [2][4]. Meeting them needs more uranium: new AMD finds, imports and the SHANTI Act's opening to private players. Uranium-based baseload power also supports net zero by 2070.

Related concepts

• Nuclear energy
• Thorium
• Bhabha Atomic Research Centre
• Tarapur Atomic Power Station
• Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant
• Jaitapur nuclear project
• Three-stage nuclear power programme
• Pressurised heavy water reactor
• Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor
• Small modular reactor

Read more

• Nuclear energy: minerals, power stations and the three-stage programme