Why Do We Need Uranium?

The UPA govt might get relaxed with the statement of Anil Kakodkar, Chairman of Indian Atomic Energy Commission. Kakodkar addressing about 500 participants in a seminar said atomic energy is the best energy alternative in coming days. Atomic Energy will be inevitable and he backed Indo - US Civil nuclear deal.The statement from chairman of Atomic Energy Commission cam when the country is going through a high stage political drama. The left providing outside support to the govt is not in favour of implementing the deal. On Wednesday, before the meeting of UPA and left Prakash Karat, CPM general secretary said the deal should not be implemented for atleast next 6 months. The deal should be implemented only after we discuss each aspect and we analyze the pros and cons in the deal.However the conditions imposed in the deal is not new for such deal. Every country with whom America signs such deal on Atomic collaboration, the conditions are more or less similar to what in case of India. In nuclear reactor Uranium core is supplied as the fuel which is bombarded by electrons. As a result Uranium gets broken down into smaller pieces and a lot of energy is liberated. This energy is used to generate electricity. The spent fuel is reprocessed to extract Plutonium which is used in Atom Bombs.Unfortunately in India there is a lack of Uranium. Uranium is largely available in USA, CANADA and Australia. Through much site HIDE Act, America can disrupt providing Uranium at any stage. What will we do then once we are dependent on America for Uranium fuel for our power reactors?The big question mark arises is "Why do we need the atomic fuel ( Uranium ) for our atomic energy needs when we have plenty of Thorium?". Thorium was discovered in 1828 by the Swedish chemist Jons Jakob Berzelius and is also a radio active element. Very little quantity of Uranium is available in India and they are not of high quality. Instead we have plenty of Thorium, another radio active element. Thorium is available in large scale in India. According to US Geological Survey, Mineral Commodity Summaries, January 1999, Thorium reservoir in India is estimated to be 290 000 tonnes, the second largest after Australia having 300 000 tonnes.BHABHA ATOMIC RESEARCH CENTER, Mumbai had developed a Thorium based nuclear reactor which can generate 600 megawatt of electricity for 2 years. The significance of Thorium Breeder reactor is in its architecture which doesnot require refuelling and requires Plutonium to ignite core reactors.Kakrapar-1 and -2 units have been tested with Thorium based fast breeders successfully. If the govt would have shown keen interest in promoting the development of Thorium based nuclear reactors project, we might not need to import Uranium for our energy needs. Scientists say once our Thorium reactors get in full operation, we can have plenty of energy to meet our energy needs.Keeping an eye on the scientist’s views, the govt should ignite the Thorium based reactor project which can provide stability and self dependence.References: www.uic.com.au