Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) chairman Srikumar Banerjee said that the most valuable uranium ore in the country was in M. Tummalapalle in Kadapa district.
He formally launched an uranium ore mine and processing plant at M. Tummalapalle in Vemula mandal of Kadapa district on Friday.
Speaking to mediapersons on the occasion, he said that they had detected valuable uranium ore in the area in 2004, and the then chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy had launched the project on November 20, 2007.
He said that construction works of the uranium ore mine and processing plant were started at a cost of Rs 1,106.4 crore.
The Tummapalle mine, said to be the most modern underground mine in the country, deploys load haul dump units, low profile dump trucks and the ore will be transported outside by conveyor belts.
A processing plant has been constructed next to the mine which will use alkali pressure leaching process to produce sodium di-uranate from the ore.
The plant has a high level of automation which will enable precise control of process parameters, ensuring high degrees of efficiency, besides highest levels of safety and environment protection in the project, the AEC chairman said.
He said that previously the country used to import uranium ore and added that now the country had enough ore to export.
Mr Srikumar Banerjee said that necessary uranium for the country could be produced if locals extend cooperation.
The Tummalapalle project, owned by the Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL), in which Rs 1,900 crore is being invested in two phases, will produce 3,000 tonnes of ore daily in the first phase and go up gradually, while the second phase will produce 1,500 tonnes per day.
Mr Srikumar Banerjee said that so far, over six lakh tonnes of uranium ore was stored. He said that first uranium project in the country was in Jaduguda in Jharkhand and the second was the M.
Tummalapalle plant. UCIL chairman and managing director Diwakar Acharya, Jammalamadugu RDO Venkataramana Reddy and others were present.