India to need 5,057 tonne uranium during 12th plan: govt

India would require an estimated 5,057 tonnes of uranium during the 12th Five-Year Plan period from 2012-2017, government told the Lok Sabha today.

"The country's uranium requirement in the 12th Five-Year Plan period is estimated to be 5,057 tonne," Minister of State in the PMO V Narayanasamy said in a written reply.

He said this includes 318 tonne of low enriched uranium for the Tarapur Atomic Power Station (TAPS) I-II and the Kudankulam I-II units.

As part of a long-term uranium procurement agreement, India would import 1,375 tonnes of natural uranium dioxide pellets from Russia and 1,150 tonne of natural uranium ore concentrate from Kazakhstan, he said.

On Australia's moves to lift the ban on uranium imports to India, Narayanasamy said, "No formal communication has been received by the Government of India from Australia, so far."

"It is not possible, as yet, to provide the time by which uranium for our reactors would be available from Australia," he said.

In reply to a separate question, Narayanasamy said a decision has been made to invite IAEA missions - Operational Safety Review Team (OSART) and Integrated Regulatory Review Service (IRRS) - for peer review of safety of nuclear power plants and of the regulatory system respectively.

"The central government is in touch with IAEA for scheduling the visit of OSART team in 2012," he added.