Nuclear Material Production Facilities
For over 50 years, the Atomic Minerals Division, now renamed as the Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research (AMD), has been engaged in carrying out surveys, prospecting and exploration of atomic minerals, for the Indian Nuclear Power Programme.
AMD has established reserves of 92,000 tonnes of uranium oxide. Efforts of AMD have led to the opening of uranium mines at Jaduguda, Bhatin and Narwapahar in Bihar, which are operated by the Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL), a public sector undertaking of DAE. The Directorate has also located sizeable uranium deposits at Damiasiat in Meghalaya; Lambapur-Yellapur, and Tumnalapalle in Andhra Pradesh; Turarmdih, Bagjata, Kanyaluka and Mohuldih in Bihar, and Bodal and Jajawal in Madhya Pradesh. Favourable indications of uranium mineralization have been obtained by subsurface exploration at Gogi in Karnataka, and Wahkyn in Meghalaya.
Reserves of other major minerals identified are : Monazite 6.55 million tonnes (contains 5,90,000 tonnes of ThO2); zircon 18 million tonnes: Ilmenite 278 million tonnes; beach sand placers along the coastal tracts of India, and in the inland placers in Bihar, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. Sizeable mineral resources of Niobium and Tantalum, Rare Earth Elements, Yttrium and Beryllium have also been discovered.
UCIL had started operations with only one underground mine and a processing mill at Jaduguda, Bihar. It opened two more mines at Bhatin and Narwapahar - the latter is one of the most modern mechanised mines. For future uranium requirements, a mine at Domiasiat will also be opened. UCIL also runs two recovery plants at Rakha and Mosaboni to recover uranium from copper tailings, and a By-product Recovery Plant at Jaduguda to recover magnetite. All these units are situated in the Singhbhum (East) district of Bihar.
The Indian Rare Earths Ltd. (IRE), another public sector undertaking of DAE, has been engaged, since 1950, in mining and processing of mineral sands containing titanium, zirconium, thorium and rare earths. The company has three mineral sands separation plants at Manavalakurichi (Tamil Nadu), Chavara (Kerala) and OSCOM-Chhatrapur (Orissa) which produce six industrial minerals, namely ilmenite, rutile, monazite, zircon, sillimanite and garnet.
Activities of IRE units also include value addition to minerals such as ilmenite, zircon, and monazite. At OSCOM, a synthetic rutile plant is operated to convert Orissa ilmenite to synthetic rutile analysing about 92% titanium oxide. At Chavara, the mineral zircon is ground to zirflor (zircon flour) and microzir for its application in the ceramic industry. At Manavalakurichi zircon is chemically treated to zircon frit which is supplied to NFC for further chemical and metallurgical processing to zircaloy components. At Rare Earths Division (RED), Alwaye, monazite is chemically processed for the separation of thorium concentrate and Rare Earths in the form of mixed and individual compounds. Part of the thorium concentrate of RED is subsequently treated at Thorium Plant of OSCOM to yield mantle grade thorium nitrate. RED has recently set up PRYNCE Plant at Alwaye for the production of very pure neodymium oxide. The Company is a recognised Trading House and earns foreign exchange of the order of Rs. 75 crore per annum. The company's products are exported top advanced markets like USA, Norway, Germany, by way of exports to Japan and S. Korea.
The Heavy Water Board (HWB), a constituent unit under Department of Atomic Energy, is primarily responsible for production of Heavy Water (D2O) which is used as a moderator and coolant in the nuclear power as well as research reactors. A moderator is required in a thermal reactor to slow down the neutrons produced in the fission reaction so that the chain reaction can be sustained. Heavy Water is an excellent moderator.
Eight heavy water plants are installed in the country to meet the heavy water requirements of the Indian nuclear power and research reactors. The Heavy Water Board (HWB) manages the operation and maintenance of seven of these plants namely the Heavy Water Plant (Manuguru)-Andhra Pradesh, Heavy Water Plant (Kota)-Rajasthan, Heavy Water Plants (Hazira and Baroda)-Gujarat, Heavy Water Plant (Thal)-Maharashtra and Heavy Water Plant (Tuticorin)-Tamil Nadu. The first heavy water plant at Nangal (Panjab) is run and owned by the National Fertilizer Ltd., Nangal. Operation of the Heavy Water Plant (Talcher)-Orissa was suspended in August 1994 due to unsatisfactory operation of the fertilizer plant of the Fertilizer Corporation of India Ltd., Talcher. The plants at Manuguru and Kota, which are based on indigenously developed water-hydrogen sulphide exchange process, as well as the other ammonia based plants, have shown very good performance and safety records. The Board has also sucessfully exported 100 metric tonnes of heavy water to South Korea.
| Sr.No | Heavy Water Plant Location |
Process | Capacity
Te./Year |
Date of commissioning |
| 1. | Nangal, Punjab | Hydrogen liquification and distillation | 8 | Aug, 1962 |
| 2. | Baroda, Gujarat | Monothermal Ammonia-Hydrogen Exchange | 45* | July, 1977 |
| 3. | Tuticorin, Tamilnadu | Monothermal Ammonia-Hydrogen Exchange | 49 | July,1978 |
| 4. | Talcher, Orissa | Bi-thermal Ammonia-Hydrogen Exchange | 62.5** | March, 1978 |
| 5. | Kota, Rajasthan | Hydrogen Sulphide water exchange | 85 | April, 1985 |
| 6. | Thal, Maharashtra | Monothermal Ammonia-Hydrogen Exchange | 110 | February, 1978 |
| 7. | Hazira, Gujarat | Monothermal Ammonia-Hydrogen Exchange | 110 | February, 1991 |
| 8. | Manuguru, Andhra Pradesh | Hydrogen Sulphide water exchange | 185 | December, 1991 |
