Uranium deposits found at 2 Himachal Pradesh sites

Shubhadeep Choudhury

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 15

The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has confirmed that “small deposits” of uranium were found at Kasha Kaladi in Shimla and Tileli in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh.

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200 tonnes of triuranium octoxide at Kasha Kaladi (Shimla)

220 tonnes at Tileli (Mandi)

1,95,751 tonnes in top producer Andhra

3,45,362 tonnes spread over 11 states

While Kasha Kaladi has an estimated 200 tonnes of triuranium octoxide, which is enough to produce 170 tonnes of uranium, Tileli has 220 tonnes of triuranium octoxide (186 tonnes of uranium). The largest deposit in the state (364 tonnes of triuranium octoxide) is at Rajpura in Una district.

The size of the find has put Himachal Pradesh at the 10th position among 11 states in the country where uranium has been traced. Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and Meghalaya occupy the top three positions, respectively.

Earlier, uranium extracts were found during digging operations at Lambehra village in Hamirpur district.

Uranium Corporation of India Limited has come up with a plan to meet the target of attaining self-sufficiency in uranium production by 2031-32. It includes maintaining supply from existing facilities, increasing capacity of existing mines and exploring new locations.

The Himachal Industry Department claims that uranium deposits had been found at 11 locations, including Hamirpur. There is, however, no mention of the village among the sites listed by Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research (Hyderabad), the exploration arm of the DAE.