NPCIL plans venture to buy stake in uranium mines overseas

“It will be modeled on the lines of ONGC Videsh which has purchased 40 assets abroad worth Rs 55,000 crore. We have been receiving proposals to buy stakes in mines from various countries,sometimes from government channels and sometimes form the companies themselves. We have already studied and scrutinised a number of proposals,” he said on Monday.

Meanwhile,according to provisional results for the year ended March 31,2011,NPCIL has seen a record generation of electricity at 26,472 million units (MU),an increase of 40.8 per cent over generation of 18,798 MUs during 2009-10. Fuel availability constraint,which had resulted in lower capacity utilisation during previous several years,has been reduced considerably,thereby resulting in considerably higher generation. The capacity factor also increased to 71 per cent,as compared to 61 per cent for the previous financial year.

“Uranium supplies from domestic sources and abroad helped us achieve this highest ever generation. Owing to the Nuclear Liability Bill,we were able to import fuel from countries like France,Russia and Kazakhstan. Imported fuel are used in those reactors which are under safeguards,” said Ghai. Its total revenue was up by 52 per cent at Rs 6,820 crore in 2010-11 from Rs 4,479 crore in the previous year. NPCIL’s net profit jumped 200 per cent to Rs 1,248 crore from Rs 416.41 crore last year,primarily on the back of easing of uranium supply from both imported and domestic sources to the nuclear plants.