'Strategic uranium reserve' likely soon

After a record production this year, India is working on creating a "strategic uranium reserve" to ensure its atomic power reactors do not face shortage of the crucial nuclear fuel.

"The reserve pool could be anywhere between 5,000 mt (million tonnes) and 15,000 mt, which can last for 5-10 years," said a senior government official.

A proposal for stocking 5,000 mt of uranium has been sent to the Cabinet for approval but the cap is likely to increase.

Over the past year, India has been pursuing its case to buy uranium from Australia and Canada, among others. It is also procuring uranium from Russia for its indigenous reactors. During Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Kazakhstan last week, India renewed a contract with the Central Asian country to procure 5,000 mt of uranium.

After Hyderabad, another nuclear fuel complex is coming up in Kota in Rajasthan, sources said.

"For all these years, we could not think of having a reserve like other countries have due to the impending sanctions. But now we can think of working to build a reserve of nuclear fuel," the official added.

Under the Indo-US nuclear deal, the latter is to support India's initiative for having a nuclear pool.