Uranium and Thorium Distribution in India – UPSC

• Atomic minerals are the raw materials of nuclear energy. Uranium and thorium are the main ones, with beryllium, lithium and zirconium long counted beside them.
• India’s position is lopsided: uranium is scarce and low in grade, while thorium in monazite sands is abundant. This imbalance is the reason for the country’s three-stage nuclear plan.
• The Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research, under the Department of Atomic Energy, explores these minerals. The Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL) mines and mills uranium.

Atomic Minerals in India

Fuel Base and the Three Stages

• India holds large resources of atomic minerals, thorium above all.
• Thorium is derived from monazite, which contains about 10 percent thoria and 0.3 percent urania. The other thorium-bearing mineral is thorianite.
• Nuclear plants in India are planned around fuel used in three stages:
  • First stage: natural uranium, now in use in pressurised heavy water reactors.
  • Second stage: products from processed fuel, chiefly plutonium, in fast breeder reactors. The 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor at Kalpakkam reached first criticality on 6 April 2026.
  • Third stage: thorium. It is fertile rather than fissile, so it must first be turned into uranium-233 in a reactor.
• India is credited with the largest deposits of thorium in the world, and it aims at the third stage so as to be self-reliant in nuclear fuel.
• One kilogram of uranium can yield as much electricity as about 1,500 tonnes of coal.

Uranium Resources

• India’s share in world mining is small. Older accounts give about 2%. In 2024 India produced an estimated 500 tonnes of uranium out of 60,213 tonnes, about 0.8% (World Nuclear Association).

• Host rocks: uranium was classically placed in crystalline rocks, and deposits now fall into several geological types:

• Distribution:
  • Older accounts place 70% of uranium deposits in Jharkhand, in the Singhbhum and Hazaribagh districts, with others in the Gaya district of Bihar and in the sedimentary rocks of the Saharanpur district of Uttar Pradesh.
  • That share has since fallen as the southern deposits were proved. The 2011-12 split was Jharkhand 46,700 tonnes, Andhra Pradesh 22,000, Karnataka 21,000, Meghalaya 16,400, Rajasthan 2,900 and Chhattisgarh 2,800.
  • Other deposits include Bodal in Chhattisgarh, Jajawal in Madhya Pradesh, and Kuppam and Gandi in Andhra Pradesh. Copper mines at Udaipur in Rajasthan also yield some uranium.
• Discovery timeline: Jaduguda (1951), Umra in Rajasthan (1956), Bodal (1973), Domiasiat (1984), Tummalapalle (1986), Lambapur (1991), Wahkyn (1994) and Gogi (1997).
• The chief mines and sites of atomic minerals appear in this table.

• In this table, Doimasiat is Domiasiat, and Lambapur-Peddagattu now lies in Telangana, in Nalgonda district.

Other Minerals with Atomic Content

• Monazite:
  • Monazite sands line both the east and west coasts, with a few inland patches in Bihar. Keralam’s coast has classically been named as the richest stretch.
  • Monazite is credited with holding over 15,200 tonnes of uranium.
  • In-situ monazite is about 12 million tonnes. An official estimate of 11.93 million tonnes held about 10.7 lakh tonnes of thorium oxide.
• Ilmenite:
  • Older accounts tie its deposits to Jharkhand, which actually holds a tiny share (0.73 million tonnes).
  • Ilmenite is chiefly a beach-sand mineral, and it is the main ore of titanium rather than a nuclear fuel. Resources are about 687.57 million tonnes (2020).
  • The last State split gives Tamil Nadu 167.7, Andhra Pradesh 156.17, Odisha 150.62 and Keralam (Kerala) 144.02 million tonnes.
  • Odisha gave 61% of the 2022-23 output, Keralam 30% and Tamil Nadu 9%.
• Beryllium:
  • Nuclear reactors use beryllium oxide as a moderator.
  • It was classically said to be found in Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in sufficient quantity for atomic power.
  • The latest inventory (1 April 2020) identifies no beryl resources, and there is no production, so needs are met by imports.
• Zirconium:
  • It occurs along Keralam’s coast and in the alluvium of Ranchi and Hazaribagh in Jharkhand.
  • Zircon resources stand at 33.71 million tonnes: Andhra Pradesh 11.94, Tamil Nadu 10.2, Keralam 7.83 and Odisha 3.25 million tonnes.
  • Indian Rare Earths Ltd meets the whole zircon need of the nuclear sector.
• Lithium:
  • This light metal comes from lepidolite and spodumene. Lepidolite is spread through the mica belts of Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh.
  • Marlagalla in Mandya district, Karnataka, has spodumene pegmatite, with about 1,600 tonnes of lithium estimated by the Atomic Minerals Directorate.
  • The Geological Survey of India reported 5.9 million tonnes of inferred lithium resources in February 2023 at Salal-Haimana, Reasi district, Jammu and Kashmir, at the preliminary G3 stage.
  • India reports no production from primary lithium resources, so demand is met by imports.

From Atomic to Critical Minerals

• The Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment Act, 2023 took six minerals off the list of twelve atomic minerals: lithium, beryllium, niobium, titanium, tantalum and zirconium. Private firms can now explore and mine them.
• They now sit in a schedule of critical and strategic minerals, along with potash, cobalt, nickel, tin, tungsten, vanadium, rare earths without uranium and thorium, and others.
• India’s expert list of 30 critical minerals dates from 2023, and a National Critical Mineral Mission runs from 2024-25 to 2030-31. Why these matter:
  • Lithium, graphite, cobalt, titanium and rare earths underpin batteries, electronics, clean energy and defence.
  • A mineral is critical when the risk of supply shortage and its effect on the economy are high, which reflects import dependence, recycling potential and substitutability.

Centres of Atomic Energy

• India’s nuclear power plants grew from five classical centres:

• Kaiga in Karnataka and Kudankulam in Tamil Nadu have since joined them.
• Target and reality:
  • India had planned 20,000 MW from nuclear plants by 2020. It missed that target.
  • Installed capacity was about 8.78 GW in April 2026.
  • The current aims are about 22.5 GW by 2031-32 and 100 GW by 2047.
  • The SHANTI Act of December 2025 replaced the 1962 Atomic Energy Act and the 2010 liability law, and it opens the sector to private firms.
  • Nuclear power also figures in India’s wider energy transition.

• Gorakhpur (Haryana) and Mahi Banswara (Rajasthan) are among the new sites.

• The capacity totals on this map, including 4,560 MW under operation, are old. “Haryana” marks Gorakhpur, and “Madhya Pradesh” marks Chutka.

Uranium

• Uranium is a silvery-grey, radioactive metallic element, with the chemical symbol U and atomic number 92.
  • Martin Heinrich Klaproth identified it in pitchblende in 1789 and named it after the planet Uranus. Henri Becquerel discovered its radioactivity in 1896.
  • Elements this heavy form only in extreme stellar events: supernova explosions and neutron-star mergers.
• Uranium, thorium and potassium are the main elements behind natural terrestrial radioactivity.
• Natural isotopes: 238U (99.27%) and 235U (0.72%).
  • All uranium isotopes are radioactive and fissionable.
  • Among natural isotopes, only 235U is fissile, meaning it can support a neutron-mediated chain reaction.
• Occurrence:
  • Traces of uranium are found everywhere: about 2–4 parts per million in the crust and 0.003 in seawater.
  • It is richest in uraninite, pitchblende, autunite and uranophane.
  • Commercial extraction is possible only where the proportion is adequate, and such locations are very few.

Distribution of Uranium Across the World

• The largest viable deposits are found in Australia, Kazakhstan and Canada. Australia holds about 29% of known resources.
• Australia:
  • Olympic Dam is in South Australia, about 560 km north of Adelaide.
  • The Ranger mine was in the Northern Territory, and it ceased production in January 2021.
• Canada:
  • High-grade deposits are found chiefly in the Athabasca Basin.
  • Cigar Lake and McArthur River are its important mines.
• Kazakhstan: the Chu-Sarysu basin alone accounts for over half of the country’s known uranium resources.

Uranium in India

• India was long said to have no significant reserves and to meet all needs through imports. The position is more mixed:
  • India has real but low-grade resources and has mined them since 1967.
  • Domestic output falls short, and imports meet about three-fourths of civilian nuclear fuel needs.
  • A parliamentary committee reported in August 2026 that future heavy water reactors may need about 5,400 tonnes of uranium oxide a year, with domestic output at about 30% of that.
• Imports: India buys thousands of tonnes of uranium from Russia, Kazakhstan and France, and from Uzbekistan.
  • India long sought supplies from Australia and Canada, delayed by concerns over nuclear proliferation.
  • The Canada route opened with a Cameco contract in 2015, and a new deal of 2 March 2026 covers about 10,000 tonnes (22 million pounds) over 2027–2035.
  • The Australia safeguards agreement was signed in September 2014.
• New exploration: quality reserves have been reported in parts of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, between the Seshachalam forest and Srisailam (from the southern edge of Andhra to the southern edge of Telangana).
  • Survey in the Nallamala forest and Amrabad Tiger Reserve met strong opposition.
  • The Telangana Assembly resolved against mining on 16 September 2019, and the proposal was reported withdrawn in 2021.

Uranium Mines

• Jharkhand: Jaduguda, Bhatin, Narwapahar, Bagjata, Turamdih, Banduhurang, Mohuldih.
• Meghalaya: Kylleng, Pyndeng-Shahiong (Domiasiat), Mawthabah, Wakhym (Wahkyn).
  • These are West Khasi Hills deposits, and the project stands suspended in the face of local opposition.
• Andhra Pradesh and Telangana: Tummalapalle in Andhra Pradesh, and Lambapur-Peddagattu in Telangana, which has clearance but faces local opposition.
• Karnataka: Gogi, in Yadgir district, approved but not yet in production.

• Tummalapalle:
  • Early statements gave a combined reserve of 49,000 tonnes of uranium, with hopes of tripling it and of a world’s largest mine.
  • A parliamentary table later listed 98,952 tonnes of uranium oxide at Tummalapalle-Rachakuntapalle.
  • The size comes with a very low grade, about 0.04%, so its claim to be India’s largest holds for tonnage, not richness.

Thorium

• Thorium is a chemical element with the symbol Th and atomic number 90.
  • It is one of only two significantly radioactive elements that still occur naturally in large quantities, the other being uranium.
  • The metal is silvery and tarnishes black in air.
• Thorium is weakly radioactive, and all its known isotopes are unstable.
  • Seven occur naturally: thorium-227, 228, 229, 230, 231, 232 and 234.
  • Thorium-232 is the most stable (half-life about 14 billion years) and makes up about 99.98% of natural thorium. The other six occur only in traces.
• It is about three to four times more abundant than uranium in the crust, and is chiefly refined from monazite sands.
  • Monazite averages about 2.5% thorium worldwide, and up to 20% in some deposits. Indian monazite is richer than that average, at about 9–10% thoria.
  • Monazite is widely scattered on the Keralam coast, and also lies in Tamil Nadu, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh sands.

Thorium Resources

• World thorium resources are estimated at about 6 million tonnes (International Atomic Energy Agency, 2019).
  • India: 8,46,000 tonnes as reported in 2010. Brazil: 6,32,000 tonnes. Australia and the USA: 5,95,000 tonnes each.
  • Only 3,19,000 tonnes of the Indian figure had earlier been counted in the assured low-cost category, and older accounts in India gave 4.57–5.08 lakh tonnes.
• Classical accounts name Keralam, Jharkhand, Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan as the main sources.
• Future use: thorium is expected to replace uranium in part as nuclear fuel, but only a few thorium reactors have been completed. Examples include Shippingport and Indian Point in the USA, and China’s experimental TMSR-LF1.

Monazite: Rare Earth Metals

• Monazite is a reddish-brown phosphate mineral containing rare earth metals, and it is India’s principal source of rare earths and thorium.
• Rare earths are a series of elements in the crust that are vital to modern technologies.
  • They serve consumer electronics, computers and networks, communications, clean energy, advanced transportation, health care, environmental mitigation and national defence.
• Their magnetic, luminescent and electrochemical properties let these technologies run with reduced weight, emissions and energy consumption.
  • They also bring greater efficiency, performance, miniaturisation, speed, durability and thermal stability.
• Seventeen elements count as rare earths: the fifteen lanthanides plus scandium and yttrium.
• India’s position:
  • Indian Rare Earths Ltd mines beach sands at Chavara (Keralam), Manavalakurichi (Tamil Nadu) and Chhatrapur (Odisha), and it alone processes monazite.
  • Light rare earths are in surplus, but dysprosium, terbium and europium are in short supply.
  • The national mineral inventory shows about 4.6 lakh tonnes of rare earth elements (1 April 2020), with Gujarat at 92%.
  • China holds about 44 million tonnes of reserves, the largest in the world.
• Monazite’s wider place in India’s coastal mineral wealth connects with marine resources.

Advantages of Thorium

• Proliferation is not easy. Weapons-grade fissile material (U-233) is harder to retrieve safely from a thorium reactor.
  • U-233 made from thorium also contains U-232, a strong source of gamma radiation. Its daughter product, thallium-208, is equally hard to handle and easy to detect.
• Less waste, as its proponents claim:
  • Thorium reactors produce far less waste than present-day reactors.
  • Long-lived radioactive waste is 10 to 10,000 times less.
  • They can burn up most of the highly radioactive and long-lasting minor actinides that trouble waste from Light Water Reactors.
• Lower cost: thorium reactors are held to be cheaper because of higher burn-up.
• Simple fuel: thorium mining produces a single pure isotope, whereas natural uranium’s mixture must be enriched for most common reactor designs.
• Safety: thorium cannot sustain a chain reaction without priming, so fission stops by default in an accelerator-driven reactor.

• On this map, Brazil’s 1,300 thousand tons is well above the 632 thousand tonnes in the 2019 assessment. India’s 846.5 agrees with it.