Context: Uranium deposits in India: The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has confirmed that “small deposits” of uranium were found at Kasha Kaladi in Shimla and Tileli in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh.
- The largest deposit in the state is at Rajpura in Una district.
- The size of the find has put Himachal Pradesh at the 10th position among 11 states in the country where uranium has been traced.
- Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and Meghalaya occupy the top three positions, respectively.
Analysis
Uranium deposits in India
- Jaduguda in Singhbhum Thrust Belt (in the state of Jharkhand) is the first uranium deposit to be discovered in the country in 1951.
- Jaduguda is the first mine in the country to produce uranium ore in a commercial scale.
- Bhatin, Narwapahar and Turamdih are well known uranium mines of the country.
- Apart from discoveries in the Singhbhum Thrust Belt, several uranium occurrences have also been found in Cuddapah/Kadapa basin of Andhra Pradesh.
- In the Mahadek basin of Meghalaya in the North-eastern part of the country, sandstone-type uranium deposits provide near-surface flat ore bodies amenable to commercial operations.
- The Tummulpalli deposit (in Andhra Pradesh) is considered to be one of the largest deposits of uranium in the world.
- India currently imports uranium from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Canada and plans to also purchase the fuel from Australia.
Nuclear Energy Resources (From NCERT)
- Important minerals used for the generation of nuclear energy are uranium and thorium.
- Uranium deposits occur in the Dharwar rocks.
- Geographically, uranium ores are known to occur in several locations along the Singbhum Copper belt.
- It is also found in Udaipur, Alwar and Jhunjhunu districts of Rajasthan, Durg district of Chhattisgarh, Bhandara district of Maharashtra and Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh.
- Thorium is mainly obtained from monazite and ilmenite in the beach sands along the coast of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
- World’s richest monazite deposits occur in Palakkad and Kollam districts of Kerala, near Vishakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh and Mahanadi river delta in Odisha.