'15,000 tonnes of uranium needed to achieve supply security of fuel for nuclear plants'

Agencies
December 30, 2018

New Delhi, Dec 30: A stockpile of 15,000 tonnes of uranium is required for achieving supply security of fuel for nuclear plants in the country, the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), which manages atomic energy installations, has told a parliamentary panel.

The panel report, which was tabled before the Lok Sabha in the on-going Parliament session, also recommended that necessary steps should be taken to ensure new uranium mines are opened as soon as possible to reduce the dependance on the imported uranium.

Currently, a major portion of domestic production of uranium comes from the Jaduguda mines of Jharkhand, which are "old" and the ore is found at "great depths." Moreover, the high extraction cost makes it "unviable" as compared to imported uranium, the panel noted.

Besides the Jaduguda mines, the uranium is extracted from the Tummalapalle mines in Andhra Pradesh. Apart from Jaduguda, uranium reserves are available in Meghalaya, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

India has 22 nuclear power reactors and domestic uranium is used in nuclear plants which are not under the international nuclear energy watchdog, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

India currently imports uranium from Kazakhstan, Canada and Russia.

"The committee notes that the DAE aims at a stockpile of 15,000 tonnes of uranium for achieving a level of comfort in so far as achieving supply security of nuclear fuel for nuclear plants is concerned," the panel said in its report.

The government also plans to build a Strategic Uranium Reserve to ensure that there is no shortage of uranium for its power reactors.

For the 10 Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs), there will be a requirement of about 1250 metric tonnes of natural uranium dioxide fuel, the report said.

The panel also noted that although nuclear plants are heavily capital intensive, the cost per unit power generation is low. It stated that the tariff for the two Boiling Water Reactors (BWRs) of Tarapur Nuclear Power Plant with a capacity of 160 MW each is as low as 90 paise per unit whereas it is Rs 2.70 per unit for the new plants.

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News Network
April 3,2020

New Delhi, April 3: The total number of coronavirus cases in India on Friday climbed to 2301, including 156 cured and discharged and 56 deaths, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

At present, there are 2088 COVID-19 active cases in the country.

"A total number of COVID-19 positive cases rises to 2301 in India, including 156 cured/discharged, 56 deaths and 1 migrated," said the Health Department.

The highest number of positive cases of coronavirus was reported from Maharashtra at 335, including 16 deaths, followed by Tamil Nadu (309 and 6 deaths) and Kerala (286 and 2 deaths).

There are 219 coronavirus positive cases in the national capital, including 8 cured and discharged and 4 deaths.

The states which have crossed 100-mark for COVID-19 positive cases also include Andhra Pradesh (132), Karnataka (124), Rajasthan (133) and Telangana (107).

While 18 people were detected positive for coronavirus in Chandigarh, 70 cases were confirmed from Jammu and Kashmir and 14 from Ladakh.

In North-East, one COVID-19 case each has been confirmed from Mizoram and Assam, and two in Manipur.

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Agencies
January 9,2020

Noida, Jan 6: A fire broke out at the ESIC Hospital in Noida on Thursday morning and firefighting was underway, officials said.

The blaze broke out in the basement of the seven-storey hospital building located in Sector 24, a police official said.

Fire tenders were rushed to the spot after the Fire Department was alerted about it around 8 am, the official said.

After that, a search was done to see if anyone was trapped in the building, he said.

The cooling process is now underway.

He said the fire had engulfed the ground, first and second floors of the building, except the basement.

Police said they received information about fire at Kaveri printing press at 2:45 am, when the manager Yogesh called them. The press owners have been identified as Atul and Anuj Goyal, residents of Sukhdev Vihar, they said.

The man who died in the fire has been identified as Phool Dev, from Bihar, who used to work as a help there. Dev went inside the building in the night to sleep before the fire started and died due to suffocation, the fire department official said.

The body has been kept at Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital and the post-mortem will be done once the family reaches here, police said.

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News Network
March 5,2020

Mar 5: The Kerala government has given its nod to a proposal aimed at encouraging students aged between 18 and 25 years to take up part-time jobs while pursuing education so as to help them gain work experience and hone their skills.

The government has decided to accept the proposal as a policy decision at the Cabinet meeting held on Wednesday, an official press release said.

The aim is to ensure that in a fiscal, 90 days of work is assured for students in government departments, local body organisations, PSUs and private companies.

This will help in developing a work culture among students.

Honorariums will be given to students by the organisations employing them part-time, the release said.

Students aged between 18 and 25 years will be permitted to become part of the scheme which will help them to gain work experience and hone their skills, the release added.

In another decision, the government decided to release Rs 26 crore from the Chief Minister's disaster relief fund for providing compensation to farmers who suffered crop loss during the 2018 floods.

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