Jaduguda
22° 30' N 85° 40' E
Adequate resources of uranium have been identified by the Uranium Corporation of India Ltd. to meet the requirements of India's currently envisaged nuclear power program. There are four promising uranium mining areas in India: the Singhbhum district (Bihar), West Khasi hills (Meghalaya), the Bhima Basin area (Gulbarga district of Karnataka), and Nalgonda district (Andhra Pradesh).
The uranium deposit at Jaduguda, Singhbhum district, Bihar, has been under exploitation since 1962. The uranium deposits at Bhatin and Narwapahar are also currently being exploited. Ore from the three deposits is treated in a mill located at Jaduguda in the Singhbhum region, and the yield is currently running at around 300 tons of uranium per year, which is more than sufficient to meet expected requirements through the early years of the next century.
Jaduguda Mine is the first mine opened by UCIL in 1968. The Bhatin Mines are located a few kilometers away. Ore body in Jaduguda has been prospected upto a depth of about 800 m below surface and it is expected that it would continue further in depth. The main entry to the mine is through a circular shaft . The shaft has been sunk to a depth of 640 m in two stages -- first stage from surface to 315 m and second stage from 315 m to 640 m. As ore upto the second stage is depleting, UCIL has planned to deepen the mine further. An auxiliary IIIrd stage shaft has been planned for mining ore lying below 555 ML to a depth of 900 m. The main features are similar to the main shaft. The shaft sinking has been completed and it lined with concrete.
The Mill expansion planning and implementation has been carried out with in-house expertise. Specific emphasis has been given on adoption of new technology, automation and instrumentation, proper integration with old system for minimum extra manpower requirement and better environmental control. Efficient new equipment such as steep inclined conveyor, hi-rate thickener, horizontal belt filter and spray drier have been incorporated. PLC based centralized control systems have been installed in plant. Enclosed magnesium diuranate spray drying plant with a remote controlled packing system has also been installed.
A new dust extraction system has been installed in the ore crushing plant. In the fine ore handling area also, dry fog system has been adopted for dust suppression. All liquor tanks have been covered and new efficient ventilation system has been installed in chemical house, housing filtration, extraction and precipitation units.
Uranium is extracted from ore in the Jaduguda Mill by hydro-metallurgical process. After three stages of crushing, the crushed ore undergoes two stages of wet grinding. This slurry is pumped for leaching uranium in leaching vessels. The uranium rich liquor is obtained by filtration and purified and concentrated employing ion exchange resins. The Uranium is then precipitated from this concentrated liquor as magnesium diuranate also known as yellow cake. This is thickened, washed, filtered, dried and packed in drums. These are then transported to the Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC) at Hyderabad for further processing into nuclear fuel.
Two types of wastes - liquid and filtered solids depleted in uranium - are generated in ore processing. This neutralised slurry is classified and coarse fractions are pumped back to the mines as back-fill. The fine particles are pumped to a tailings pond, where the slime settles. The clear liquor is decanted off and sent for treatment. In Jaduguda the first tailings pond was constructed in the nearby valley around one kilometre away from the tailings treatment plant. After this pond got filled up, two more ponds were constructed. In 1986 the tailing pond dam burst and material from the tailing pond flowed into a village nearby.
The uranium is refined in Jaduguda up to 80 percent purity, and the yellowcake from the Jaduguda mill is transported to Hyderabad, almost 2,000 kilometers away. After the uranium is extracted at Hyderabad, the the yellowcake is returned through the Rakha railway-station to be dumped in the Jaduguda Restricted Area.
The Atomic Energy Central School at Jaduguda is located in Jamshedpur, Bihar.
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