Nuclear Power Corp eyeing uranium mines abroad

State-owned Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) said on Monday that the government is looking at creating a joint venture to buy stakes in uranium mines abroad in order to get assured and long-term fuel supplies for its power plants.

''We are currently working on creating a set-up within the department of atomic energy (DAE) for holding stakes in mines abroad. A company could be created which will spell out the procedures to be followed.

NPCIL and the Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL) could be partners. The proposal is expected to be ready in the next six months,'' Jagdeep K Ghai, director (finance), NPCIL, said in Mumbai.

''It will be modeled on the lines of ONGC Videsh, which has purchased 40 assets abroad worth Rs55,000 crore. We have been receiving proposals to buy stakes in mines from various countries, sometimes through government channels and sometimes form the companies themselves. We have already studied and scrutinised a number of proposals,'' he said.

Meanwhile, NPCIL – which runs all the country's nuclear plants, and which generated a record 40.8 per cent more electricity in 2010-11 – plans to raise Rs2,500 crore debt in 2011-12, primarily from foreign lenders, as it expects domestic interest rates to rise further.

"We raised Rs2,800 crore debt last year, mainly from the domestic market. This fiscal, we would mostly go for international borrowings as domestic rates are moving upwards," Ghai said.