Amitabh Sinha Posted online: Tuesday , Sep 15, 2009 at 0419 hrs
New Delhi : First it was Kazakhstan, then Namibia and now Mongolia. In its quest for obtaining fuel for its nuclear power plants, India has been reaching out to every possible country that has some uranium resources and is willing to sell it to New Delhi.Monday’s civil nuclear cooperation agreement with Mongolia is the sixth that New Delhi has signed since the 45-member Nuclear Suppliers’ Group formalised India’s re-entry into international nuclear commerce last year after 34 years of sanctions. Only three of them are with established nuclear powers — United States, France and Russia.The Memorandum of Understanding signed with Mongolia falls into a pattern. Countries like Namibia, Mongolia and Kazakhstan are likely to be more reliable sources of uranium as compared to some other nations which are still reluctant to do nuclear business with India. In fact, despite the waiver New Delhi earned from the NSG, Canada and Australia, the world’s topmost and third biggest producer of uranium respectively, have so far refused to engage in nuclear trade with India citing domestic compulsions.

With the domestic supplies of uranium unable to keep pace with the demand, many of the nuclear reactors in India, till a few months back, were forced to run at half their capacities.Sources in the Department of Atomic Energy told The Indian Express that “multi-sourcing” was at the heart of India’s strategy of obtaining enough nuclear fuel for its existing and rapidly expanding nuclear power generation capacity. It was important for India’s nuclear power sector to remain insulated from the whims of individual nations, they said.

While Kazakhstan is the world’s second biggest producer of uranium and has about 15 per cent of global uranium reserves, Namibia accounts for 5 per cent of the total reserves. Mongolia has one per cent of the world’s uranium resources, only marginally less than India.Sources said these countries were more than willing to do business with India because of variety of reasons. Their own nuclear programme is virtually non-existent and therefore they have little use of their vast uranium resources. India can be a stable and long-term client for their uranium resources and can partner them in developing nuclear power plants in their own countries. As a DAE official said, India has almost exclusive expertise in building and operating small-size nuclear reactors ideal for countries making initial entry into nuclear power. In fact, Kazakhstan has already shown interest in setting up nuclear reactors at home with India’s help.

“It’s a give and take in which both parties make handsome gains,” the official said.India has also been exploring the option of buying stakes in mining companies in these countries, especially Kazakhstan. In this regard, the Uranium Corporation of India (UCIL) and the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) have joined hands with the objective of participating and pursuing uranium exploration abroad. UCIL has expertise in mining activities, ONGC, through its overseas arm ONGC-Videsh, has rich experience in the fiercely competitive field of global energy resource acquisition.

Sources said India would continue to look out for more countries like these to secure its nuclear fuel supply chain. Countries like Ukraine, Niger and Uzbekistan have rich reserves of uranium and can be possible partners in India’s nuclear ascent.