India: System shut down

In his addresses to atomic scientists at Tarapur and Trombay last Friday, Manmohan Singh put out two mutually reinforcing messages. First, that shortage of uranium supplies has put the nuclear energy programme in jeopardy. Second, there is a need to cultivate a

self-confident attitude towards nuclear engagement with the world. It is an open secret that without international cooperation, our three-stage nuclear power generation programme will grind to a slow halt. The principal vulnerability has been the limited quantity and low quality of India’s domestic uranium resources.

Uranium shortage has already forced the DAE to run the current nuclear power reactors at around half their capacity.
Even in the best-case scenario, domestic sources of uranium cannot sustain more than 10,000 MW of nuclear power. If the first stage of the programme based on uranium reactors falters, there is not much hope for the second stage involving the fast breeder reactors that need plutonium fuel extracted from the first stage. No one is claiming that technology to exploit India’s vast thorium resources, at the heart of the third stage, can be commercialised in the next three decades. Put simply, without the Indo-US nuclear deal, India will not be able to import badly needed uranium.

Indian Express