A uranium mine is found at Tumalapalli, the current estimates suggest a massive quantity of 49,000 tonnes, sufficient to supply a 8000 MW plant for 40 years. Srikumar Banerjee, secretray of DAE and chairman of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, announced the discovery during the foundation stone-laying ceremony of the seventh and eighth units of the Rawatbhata atomic power project.
Further investigations are on and the total quantity could be 3 times as much, possibly making it the largest Uranium mine in world.
This comes as a major boost for India, which sees nuclear energy as a powerful resource to satisfy its ever increasing demand of power. India has been dependent on country such as France, Kazakhstan for raw fissile material. India has currently 2 mines, both in Jharkhand with a total capacity of 1,70,000 tonnes. This new discovery serves as a major boost and will reduce India's dependency on foreign supplies.
Moreover the foundation stone has been laid for 7th & 8th unit of Rawatbhata plant in Rajasthan, 2 indigenously built nuclear 700 MW capacity plants. They will be completed by 2016 at an estimated cost of Rs.12,000 crores.
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