Nuclear power is India’s gateway to a prosperous future and Uranium news

The Hindu – Nuclear power is India’s gateway to a prosperous future

Energy is the most fundamental requirement of every society or nation as it progresses through the ladder of development. This is clearly reflected in the average energy consumption per person across nations — for instance, an average American consumes more than 15 times the energy consumed by an average Indian

Today, India finds itself going through a phase of rapid ascent in economic empowerment. Industries are evolving at a significantly higher rate since liberalization. Our focus for this decade will be on the development of key infrastructure and the uplifting of the 600,000 villages where 750 million people live, as vibrant engines of the economy. In 2008, we crossed the trillion-dollar mark, and it took more than six decades for us to reach that milestone. However, it is predicted that the Indian economy will double again, to reach the $2-trillion mark by 2016, and then again redouble, to reach the $4 trillion milestone by 2025. All this economic growth will need massive energy. It is predicted that the total electricity demand will grow from the current 150,000 MW to at least over 950,000 MW by the year 2030 — which will still be less than one-fourth of the current U.S. per capita energy need. In fact, by 2050, in all likelihood the demand could go even higher, and the per capita energy demand would be equal to the current French or Russian figure of about 6000 W per capita.

A recent study indicates that most of the prosperous nations are extracting about 30-40 per cent of power from nuclear power and it constitutes a significant part of their clean energy portfolio, reducing the burden of combating climate change and the health hazards associated with pollution.

India is the leader of the new resource of nuclear fuel called Thorium, which is considered to be the nuclear fuel of the future.

2. The Jordanian French Uranium Mining Company announced that, some 12,300 tons of potential Uranium resources have already been identified over a 18 kilometers area in central Jordan Since 2009. According to preliminary results on this second exploration phase, JFUMC is confident that the overall Uranium potential on the license should exceed 20,000 tons

3. World Nuclear News – Uranium resources at the Ongolo Alaskite deposit in Namibia have tripled, while resources for the Mkuju River project in Tanzania have increased by 42% in newly released JORC-compliant figures.

Latest figures released by Australian exploration company Deep Yellow for the Ongolo Alaskite deposit show a total of 18 million pounds U3O8 (6924 tU) at a 250 ppm cut-off, 11.8 million pounds (4539 tU) up from estimates released in May 2011. Of the total Ongolo resources, 13.2 million pounds (5077 tU) is categorised as “indicated”, meaning that its tonnage, densities, shape, physical characteristics, grade and mineral content can be estimated with a reasonable level of confidence. The remainder is classed as “inferred”, meaning that it can be estimated with a lower level of confidence from geological evidence and continuity but has not yet been verified.

Updated figures for the Mkuju River project in Tanzania see a 39% increase in measured resources to 55.3 million pounds U3O8 (21,271 tU), while indicated resources increase by 28% to 38.0 million pounds (14,617 tU). Both figures are at a cut-off grade of 100 ppm U3O8. Inferred resources have been reduced as a result of the conversion of inferred resources into indicated and measured resources, and now stand at 26.1 million pounds U3O8 (10,039 tU).

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