Lok Sabha Question No. 1872 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-03-09
Subject: Illegal Export of Thorium
Ministry: ATOMIC ENERGY
Asked by: A.T. (NANA) PATIL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA DEPARTMENT OF ATOMIC ENERGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1872

TO BE ANSWERED ON 09.03.2016

## ILLEGAL EXPORT OF THORIUM

1872.  SHRI  A.T. NANA PATIL:

Will the PRIME MINISTER be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has seen the recent media reports regarding large scale illegal export of thorium rich sand from Tamil Nadu to China and Europe via Sri Lanka;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the preventive steps taken by the Government in this regard; and
- (d) the outcome of the vigilance probe about illegal sand smuggling?

## ANSWER

THE  MINISTER  OF  STATE  FOR  PERSONNEL,  PUBLIC  GRIEVANCES  & PENSIONS AND PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE (Dr. JITENDRA SINGH):

- (a)      Yes, Sir.
- (b)     Recently, there have been some media reports that private companies have been allowed to export monazite of millions of tonnes, and that India has lost large  quantities  of  thorium  of  value  worth  lakhs  of  crores  of  rupees.    The report  alleges  that  Thorium  resources,  which  are  found  in  the  beach  sand minerals in the coastal areas of the country, which  are being allowed to be indiscriminately  exported  abroad  on  a  large-scale,  depriving  the  country  of these  resources  in  the  long  run.   The  media  reports  are  a  large  number  of conjectures,  baseless  presumptions  and  some  outright  inaccuracies  and fallacies.

The  coastal  region  of  peninsular  India  contains  economically  important minerals such as garnet, ilmenite, leucoxene, monazite, rutile, sillimanite and zircon  commonly  known  as  beach  sand  minerals.  Of  these,  monazite  is

defined as a 'prescribed substance' under the Atomic Energy Act, 1962 (AE Act) as amended in 2006(Notified in the Gazette of India (57), dated January 20, 2006).Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research (AMD) of the  Department  of  Atomic  Energy  (DAE)  has  carried  out  extensive  surveys along  the  coastal  region  of  the  country  to  assess  the  distribution  of  beach sand minerals, including monazite. A license from the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) under the Atomic Energy (Working of the Mines, Minerals and Handling  of  Prescribed  Substances)  Rules  1984  promulgated  under  the Atomic Energy Act 1962 is necessary for exporting monazite. Violation of this provision is a cognizable offence under the Code of Criminal Procedure and is punishable with imprisonment for a term, which may extend to five years or with  fine  or  with  both.  DAE  has  not  issued  any  license  to  any  private  entity either  for  production  of  monazite,  or  for  its  downstream  processing  for extracting thorium, or the export of either monazite or thorium. Export of the beach sand minerals (not monazite), falls under Open General License and does not require any authorisation from DAE.

Since the other beach sand minerals and monazite (which contains thorium) occur  together,  companies  handling  beach  sand  minerals  have  to  get  a license under the Atomic Energy (Radiation Protection) Rules 2004 from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB). As per the licensing conditions, the licensee,  after  separating  the  beach  sand  minerals  has  to  dispose  of  the tailings,  which  contain  monazite,  within  its  company  premises or as  backfill, depending  on  the  monazite  content.  These  institutions  are  under  strict regulatory control. They send quarterly reports to AERB stating the amount of tailings disposed of safely either in the premises or as backfill. Inspectors from AERB  survey  these  areas  to  ensure  that  the  licensing  conditions  are  met. Export of monazite without a license from AERB is a violation of the Atomic Energy (Radiation Protection) Rules 2004.

Indian Rare Earths Limited (IREL), a wholly owned Public Sector Undertaking of  the  Government  of  India  (GOI)  under  DAE,  is  the  only  entity  which  has been permitted to produce and process monazite, and handle it for domestic use as well as for export.

Apart from thorium, monazite contains rare earths too. On account of its radioactivity  and  other  characteristics,  extracting  rare  earths  from  monazite  is commercially not attractive, unless mixed rare earths have to be separated as a  by-product  following  extraction  of  thorium.  The  annual  requirement  of thorium-oxide for the 300 MWe Indian Advanced Heavy Water Reactor will be about  five  tons,  with  a  one-time  requirement  of  less  than  sixty  tons  (which should remain nearly the same, even if power was increased) for the initial core.

The  information  available  in  IAEA  documents,  about  the  national  nuclear programmes  of  different  countries,  does  not  give  any  indication  that  any country,  other  than  India,  is  planning  significant  use  of  thorium  either  in  the reactors currently under operation or in those being considered for deployment in the near future.  Hence, it is unlikely that there is a demand overseas  for  large  amounts  of  thorium.  In  view  of  the  above,  the  media reports, alleging illegal exports of huge quantities of thorium out of the country are not based on the facts

(c) & (d) Does not arise in view of the reply at (b) above

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