In Andhra Pradesh, production has begun in the first uranium mining and processing plant at Thummalapalli in YSR District this morning. Speaking after commissioning the plant this morning, Atomic Energy Department Secretary SriKumar Benarjee said nuclear power generation in the country will reach 60 thousand megawatts by the year 2050.

Stating that the uranium processed in Thummalapalli is of the best quality available in the world, Mr Benarjee said local people will be benefited by getting employment opportunities in the plant. He said the second plant will soon be set up soon at Thummalapalli. The newly commissioned plant has a capacity of mining and processing three thousand tonnes uranium a day.

It is estimated that over 48 million tonnes of quality uranium ore reserves are available at Thummalapalli. Built at a cost of over 11 hundred crore rupees in 900 hectares, the plant is expected to provide a major fillip to the country's much needed uranium fuel for nuclear programme.

The plant will treat the dolomite limestone based uraniferous ore and is the first in the country to adopt an alkali pressure leaching process for precessing. The final product shall be sodium di-uranate.