URANIUM
STOCKS - SCI & TECH
News: IAEA reports no progress in Iran as
uranium stock enriched to 60% grows
What's
in the news?
● The
U.N. nuclear watchdog reported no progress in talks with Iran on sensitive
issues such as reinstalling surveillance cameras and explaining uranium traces
at undeclared sites, according to two quarterly reports seen by Reuters.
Key
takeaways:
● At
the same time, Iran's stock of uranium enriched to up to 60% purity, close to
weapons grade, continued to grow compared with the previous quarter albeit at a
slower pace, despite some of the material having been diluted, one of the
confidential reports to member states showed.
Uranium:
● Uranium
is a silvery-grey metallic radioactive
chemical element.
● It
is only naturally formed in supernova
explosions.
● Uranium, thorium, and potassium
are the main elements contributing to natural terrestrial radioactivity.
Uranium
Production Stats:
● About
two-thirds of the world's production of uranium from mines is from Kazakhstan,
Canada and Australia.
● An
increasing amount of uranium, now over 55%, is produced by in-situ leaching.
● In
2022 Kazakhstan produced the largest
share of uranium from mines (43% of world supply), followed by Canada (15%) and Namibia (11%).
Uranium
and India:
● India has no significant reserves of
Uranium. All needs are met through imports.
● India
imports thousands of tonnes of uranium from Russia, Kazakhstan, France.
● India
is trying hard to import uranium from Australia and Canada. There are some
concerns regarding nuclear proliferation and other related issues which India
is trying to sort out.
● Some
quality reserves were recently discovered in parts of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana between Seshachalam forest and
Srisailam [Southern edge of Andhra to Southern edge of Telangana].