India looking to import uranium from Uzbekistan

India is in talks with Uzbekistan for procuring uranium for growing requirement of fuel for its nuclear plants, expected to increase in number in coming years.

A delegation of Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) officials travelled to Uzbekistan last week to discuss the modalities of a possible contract, sources said. They said a contract for procurement of uranium could materialise in the near future.

India is looking at importing about 2,000 tonnes of uranium by 2014 from Uzbekistan, which has 1,85,800 tonnes of proven uranium deposits.

The visit by the DAE team took place against the backdrop of talks between external affairs minister Salman Khurshid and his Uzbek counterpart Abdulaziz Kamilov last month in Tashkent. During the talks, the issue of uranium import to India was discussed.

India already has a contract for uranium import from another Central Asian nation Kazakhstan and Mongolia. Apart from these countries, Kyrgyzstan also has rich uranium deposits.

DAE officials, however, said that they were looking for uranium across the world to meet the growing demand for the country's nuclear power plants.