UCIL begins its Diamond Jubilee (60th) year at Jaduguda
05-10-2026 · English
Topics: Energy · 5 October 2026 Current Affairs (UPSC / TNPSC / SSC / RRB)
News
On 4 October 2026 the Uranium Corporation of India Limited (UCIL) began its Diamond Jubilee year at Jaduguda, East Singhbhum district, Jharkhand, marking six decades of uranium mining. UCIL was incorporated on 4 October 1967. The chief guest was Seema Jain, Member (Finance), Atomic Energy Commission. UCIL's CMD is Dr Kacham Anand Rao.
Key facts
| UCIL | Public sector company under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE); HQ Jaduguda |
| First mine | Jaduguda – India's first uranium mine (production from 1967; uranium found there in 1951) |
| Other mines | Bhatin, Narwapahar, Turamdih, Bagjata, Mohuldih, Banduhurang (first opencast uranium mine) – all in the Singhbhum Thrust Belt, Jharkhand |
| Andhra Pradesh | Tummalapalle (YSR Kadapa) – one of the world's largest uranium deposits |
| New plan | A proposed dark matter laboratory of the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, about 815 m underground in the Jaduguda mine |
Background
- DAE was set up in 1954 and works directly under the Prime Minister; the Atomic Energy Commission dates from 1948.
- Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research (AMD), Hyderabad, finds uranium deposits; other deposits include Domiasiat (Meghalaya) and Rohil (Rajasthan).
- Homi J. Bhabha framed India's three-stage nuclear programme: natural uranium (PHWR), then plutonium (fast breeders), then thorium.
- India has large thorium reserves in the monazite sands of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Odisha.
Tamil Nadu link: Kalpakkam (Chengalpattu district) has the Madras Atomic Power Station (India's first fully indigenous PHWR plant, 1984), the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (1971) and the 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor, the second stage of the programme. Kudankulam (Tirunelveli) is India's largest nuclear power plant, built with Russia. IREL mines monazite at Manavalakurichi (Kanyakumari).
Source: Revoi (5 Oct 2026); Indian Masterminds (Oct 2026)
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