A report in Hindustan Times on 9 June said:"Even as it scouts for nuclear fuel from the US and elsewhere, India has been sitting on massive, untapped reserves of uranium, hundreds of tonnes of which have been discovered over the past couple of years — adding to the over 1 lakh tonnes already identified in Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu.
Together, these uranium resources would be enough to run all of India’s current and planned nuclear power plants for their entire lifetime of 40 years. India’s atomic energy establishment has done next to nothing to tap deposits identified up to 15 years ago. Mining is yet to begin at several sites explored, identified and handed through the 1990s by the Atomic Minerals Directorate (AMD), the government’s uranium exploration arm, to the Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL)."
India imports Uranium because importers will pay bribes to the officers and Ministers. India imports wheat from Australia but refused to pay proper price to India's own farmers for the same reason. India imports worse-quality power plants from China, which breaks down, depriving BHEL. India imports fertiliser by shutting down all ferliser producing factories. This is called Reformed Economy of both BJP-Congress. Thus, India is willing to sign the 123 Treaty to give nuclear weapons just to import Uranium, as that will being lot more bribes.
Australia will not over-ride NPT or USA. Let us stop being emotional. There are hard realities.
China as always is ahead of the curve though some lump us together. They are taken much more seriously. Let us take a hard look at the mirror before we point fingers at others. We are too divisive internally and unless we have some national consensus on these vital issues, we are digging our own graves.
We are slaves to oil & neck deep in trouble as oil is becoming a political weapon. The reality is we are dependent on the Gulf countries for 80%. The oil exporting countries are few. Already Pakistan gets prefrential treatment from Saudi Arabia.
Many think we have uranium, thorium etc., but the scientists know the hard truth about the ground realities. It is time a true picture is put out to get us out of the reverie.
It looks like we should get out of a mentality that manna will fall from heavens all the time. How much we can pay anyway for oil? There are others like China who have spread their tentacles wide. That is real soft power.
It is time we looked beyond oil & the contentious nuclear issue. We seem to increasingly depend on imports of coal, which we were led to believe we have too much.
We should conserve & diversify. Go for renewables like wind, hydro. Get cracking on solar as any break-throughs will change the equation totally.
Realists will know how tough even to borrow Rs 100. Countries are no different when it comes to the crunch.
Until Bharat arrived on the world stage, Australia showed nothing but disdain to us. Smelling economic opportunies, it started making cooing noises but has anything changed? Clearly not. Just like New Zealand's Helen Clark, they like nothing more that having cheap pot shots at Bharat. Australia is so full of it that it struts the world stage in its effort to isolate Bharat. They are welcome to the peaceniks in the Japanese whose inability to overcome their mauling by nuclear weapons armed America will ensure that they acede primacy to Chinese power as America's wanes. Australia will get all that it deserves with its embrace of the Chinese monster, and don't tell me I didn't warn you. Now that we see Australia for what it is, Bharat should be less generous in its trade and economic relations with that country.
Australia will be more than willing to sell uranium to India, when the actual time comes. As a potential buyer, India has always been a reliable long-term customer, because of various reasons including having, of course, a robust legal frame-work and system. And no one having something to sell, would look askew to good customers.
As the actual time of sale has not come, it is always better for Australia, for that matter for each of those potential suppliers, to play safe with her domestic audience.
For that matter, is India, by any chance, considering getting those supplies from Australia? India has never shown any interest there. There are several countries who would be more than happy if Australia pulls out.
RE:Hmm...
by Shanesh on Jun 10, 2008 10:39 AM Permalink
Technology is different thing and India has good technology to build nuclear power stations. One thing India lacks is the most common nuclear fuel, Uranium and Plutonium...Australia has plenty of this. What we should do is to focus on finding new materials for nuclear fuel and develop technology to harness this fuel. As our ex President Mr. Kalam said "India should focus on Thorium reactors in future." Thorium is potentially new substance which can be used for nuclear fuel, and guess what?? India has one of the largest reserves of Thorium. Cheers.
Nuclear non proliferation treaty is all absurd. It is just another method of protectionism. If australia does have such large reserves of uranium then all these treaties would not have come in the way of exporting uranium.
Fact of the matter is enriched uranium is in limited supply and it does take a lot of years to get an uranium mine into production.
Australia currently does not have capacity to support its own need of uranium.
Ask george fernandis about this powerful liquid, our former PM Morarji desai has openly advised everybody to use atleast once to see the effect. We need to replce the uranium based reactor with urine based reactor.
Just threaten to call OFF next cricket tour to AUS and ban Aussie players from IPL and see how the AUS govt will fall on its knees and grovel India to buy some Uranium.
RE:BIG DEAL!!!
by crazy on Jun 09, 2008 09:01 PM Permalink
USA has 2 pet dogs. One is UK and the other one is Australia. Aussie dog will need permission of its Master to sell the Uranium.
Anyways its good that the Aussies are not willing to sell Uraniam to India. This will force India to use our Thorium reserves by creating the technology for Thorium based reactors.
