Uranium Corporation of India (UCIL) is a

public sector undertaking A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the government ...

(PSU), under the

Department of Atomic Energy The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) (IAST: ''Paramāṇu Ūrjā Vibhāga'') is a department with headquarters in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. DAE was established in 1954 by a Presidential Order. DAE has been engaged in the development of nuc ...

for

uranium mining Uranium mining is the process of extraction of uranium ore from the ground. Over 50 thousand tons of uranium were produced in 2019. Kazakhstan, Canada, and Australia were the top three uranium producers, respectively, and together account f ...

and processing. The corporation was founded in 1967 and is responsible for the mining and milling of

uranium ore Uranium ore deposits are economically recoverable concentrations of uranium within the Earth's crust. Uranium is one of the more common elements in the Earth's crust, being 40 times more common than silver and 500 times more common than gold. It ...

in India. The firm operates mines at

Jadugora Jadugora (also spelt as Jadugoda or Jaduguda) is a census town in the Musabani CD block in the Ghatshila subdivision of the Purbi Singhbhum district in the Indian state of Jharkhand. Etymology The name "Jadugora" or "Jadugoda" has been deriv ...

, Bhatin, Narwapahar, Turamdih and Banduhurang

Mines

Jaduguda

It is the first

uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...

mine of

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

which started its operations in 1967. This mine is located in the state of

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . I ...

. Jadugoda process plant is located close to the mine which is used for the processing of the

ore. The ore from Bhatin and Narwapahar mines is also processed here.

Bhatin

This mine is located 3 km away from Jaduguda and shares most of the infrastructure with the Jaduguda mine.

Narwapahar

This mine was commissioned in April 1995. It is known to be the most modern mine of the country.

Turamdih

Turamdih mine is located 24 km to the west of Jaduguda and five km south to Tatanagar railway station which is on howrah Mumbai main line. It was commissioned in 2003. Turamdih Processing Plant has been set up to treat the ore from Turamdih, Banduharang and Mohuldin mines.

Bagjata

Bagjata Mines is an underground mine in east singhbhum district of Jharkhand.

New projects

UCIL has taken up activities to start two underground mines in

Uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...

reserves have been found in the state of

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

and the construction of an underground mine has started in

Cuddapah Kadapa (colonial spelled Cuddapah) is a city in the southern part of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is located in the Rayalaseema region, and is the district headquarters of YSR Kadapa district. As of the 2022 Census of India, the city had a popula ...

district.

Controversies

There was criticism from certain sections of the local community that the mining operations of UCIL were resulting in harmful radiation to the public.
UCIL was also among the 63 Indian establishments put under sanction by USA in 1998 after

Operation Shakti The Pokhran-II tests were a series of five nuclear bomb test explosions conducted by India at the Indian Army's Pokhran Test Range in May 1998. It was the second instance of nuclear testing conducted by India; the first test, code-named ''Smil ...

.
The mining activities of UCIL in the

Khasi Hills The Khasi Hills () is a low mountain formation on the Shillong Plateau in Meghalaya state of India. The Khasi Hills are part of the Garo-Khasi-Jaintia range and connects with the Purvanchal Range and larger Patkai Range further east. Khasi Hil ...

were also fiercely opposed by the local

tribal The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to conflic ...

s protesting against potential health effects.

References

External links

Official Uranium Corporation of India website

at

{{authority control Mining companies of India Nuclear technology in India Uranium mining Government-owned companies of India Non-renewable resource companies established in 1967 Technology companies established in 1967 1967 establishments in Bihar