India and Canada signed a long-term uranium supply agreement to fuel India’s civil nuclear power reactors

India and Canada signed a long-term uranium supply agreement to fuel India’s civil nuclear power reactors

India and Canada signed a long-term uranium supply agreement to fuel India’s civil nuclear power reactors. The deal establishes a long-term supply of uranium from Canada to support India’s civil nuclear energy programme.The contract was signed between India’s Department of Atomic Energy and Canadian nuclear company Cameco.The agreement is valued at about 2.6 billion Canadian dollars and involves the supply of about 10,000 tonnes of uranium between 2027 and 2035.Both countries also agreed to expand collaboration in advanced nuclear technologies, including small modular reactors and next-generation nuclear reactors.Incidentally, this is India’s second major uranium supply deal within a month. Two weeks ago, it was revealed that India had finalised a similar agreement with Kazakhstan’s state-owned company Kazatomprom. Additionally, both countries also expressed the aim to increase bilateral trade to around 50 billion dollars by 2030. 

Significance of the Deal

¨     Strengthening Energy Security: The long-term uranium supply ensures reliable nuclear fuel availability, reducing risks of fuel shortages and supporting uninterrupted operation of India’s expanding nuclear reactor fleet.

¨     Supporting Clean Energy Transition: By securing uranium supplies, the agreement reinforces nuclear power’s role as a low-carbon baseload energy source, helping India diversify its energy mix and progress toward climate and net-zero commitments.

¨     Boost to Nuclear Power Expansion: Stable fuel access enables India to scale up nuclear generation capacity to meet rising electricity demand, particularly as the country targets significant growth in nuclear power in the coming decades.

¨     Strategic and Technological Cooperation: The partnership strengthens India–Canada relations while opening avenues for collaboration in advanced nuclear technologies such as Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) and next-generation reactor systems.

Uranium Landscape of India

¨     India possesses relatively modest uranium reserves with low ore grades (generally around 0.02–0.45%, compared to the global average of about 1–2%), making domestic extraction more expensive and less productive.

¨     Due to limited domestic production capacity, over 70% of India’s uranium requirements are met through imports, mainly from countries such as Canada, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Russia.

¨     India currently requires roughly 1,500–2,000 tonnes of uranium annually, and this demand is expected to increase significantly as the country expands its nuclear power capacity.

¨    Domestic uranium deposits are primarily located in Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh, with additional reserves identified in Rajasthan, Telangana and Meghalaya.

¨   Uranium forms the first stage of India’s three-stage nuclear power programme, which ultimately aims to utilise the country’s vast thorium reserves for long-term energy security.

¨     India currently operates about 25 nuclear reactors with a capacity of about 9 GW. It aims to expand nuclear power capacity to 100 GW by 2047 under the recently launched Nuclear Energy Mission.