Uranium shortage to stay for some years: Kakodkar

"India is also exploring possibilities of importing uranium," he said. He hinted that the sourcing process would ease if the civil nuclear cooperation programme with the US comes off.

The government was also looking at using thorium, a non-fusile material, as a long-term energy source, he said.

The mismatch was the result of slow opening of new uranium mines, he said, adding that Uranium Corporation of India Limited would shortly open a mine and build a mill at Tummalapalli village in Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh with a capacity of 15,000 tonnes per annum. It was also looking at Meghalaya, Rajasthan and Karnataka for construction of mines and mills, he said.

Meanwhile, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) is working on pre-project activities on four 700 Mw nuclear power plants to augment its capacity. "The construction will start after ensuring fuel linkages," Kakodkar said, adding that there was a provision for four more projects of similar capacity. "With all these in place, the installed capacity would touch 10,000 Mw," he said, adding that it would take about five years for all these to materialise.

Kakodakar was in the city to participate in the Nuclear Fuel Complex Day celebrations.

India had the capability of supplying heavy water, a controlled commodity, to other countries, he said, adding it had already supplied significant quantity of it to the US.

On the prototype fast breeder reactor, the AEC chairman said the first such reactor would start working in 2010-11. This apart, four more fast breeder reactors would be set up in the country by 2020 with a targeted production of 20,000 Mw. "Nuclear fuel will not replace fossil fuels completely but add to the capacity," he said, stressing the role of research and development for effective use of energy resources.

Not commenting on how the proposed nuclear deal would shape up due to changing political equations in the US (and also the ensuing general election in India next year), he said the three-stage nuclear programme that India was taking up for enhancing capacity were independent of the deal.

On the Koodankulam nuclear plant in Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu, he said the construction was behind schedule. The second unit would come up only after six months after the first one was ready, he said.