India's Most Advanced Nuclear Reactor Approaches Finish Line

[EugeneP]

A more balanced article:

Kalpakkam Fast Breeder Reactor: Why it's controversial, why India chose it

Rest of the world has opted for light-water reactors which use uranium as nuclear fuel; uranium reserves are scarce, and India has very limited reserves

thefederal.com

India is about to witness a significant nuclear milestone in its history of generating atomic energy with the initiation of core loading in the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research at Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu on March 4.


Why has India focused on Fast Breeder Reactors (FBR)?
The rest of the world has opted for light-water reactors which use uranium as the nuclear fuel. However, uranium reserves are scarce, and India has very limited reserves of uranium. Fast breeder reactors, on the other hand, can use plutonium and thorium. Thorium, when exposed or irradiated to fast neutrons, generate uranium-233, thus converting a benign thorium into a valuable atomic material.


The advantage for India is that it has the world’s second-largest reserves of thorium.


The FBRs also convert “wasted” uranium-238 with the help of fast neutrons into a valuable resource.


What is a breeder reactor?
A breeder reactor is a nuclear reactor that generates more fissile material than it consumes. While conventional reactors use uranium-235 which is rare, breeder reactors use uranium-238 and thorium-232 which are more commonly-available isotopes. The latter two are called fertile materials because they can be bred into fuel by the breeder reactors.


What is a fast breeder reactor?

They are called fast breeder reactors not because they run faster but because the neutrons that sustain the atomic chain reaction travel at a much higher velocity than neutrons that are used in traditional atomic plants.


Which is the world’s only commercially-operated FBR?


The only fast breeder reactor that is being commercially operated at present is the BN 800 FBR in the Ural Mountains of Russia at the Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Plant, close to Russia’s fourth-largest city Yekateringburg. This reactor produces about 800 MW of electricity which is supplied to the Ural region. The Russians are the global leaders in fast breeder reactors since 1980.


What's the FBTR experience at Kalpakkam, Chennai?


India has been running an experimental facility called a Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR) for about 38 years. The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has been using this facility to perfect the use of advanced nuclear fuels. Since no country is willing to share the know-how of this sensitive technology, scientists at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) have been developing the technology from scratch.


The FBTR has completed 32 irradiation campaigns in 38 years of safe and successful operation.


What is the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR)?


Using the expertise gained by operating the FBTR for so many years, India has designed the 500 Mwe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor. It was supposed to be completed by 2010, but has been delayed for various reasons. It has been more than 20 years in the making and about 14 years since the original commissioning date. After one year of successful operation of the PFBR, India plans to construct six more FBRs in the years to follow.


Why is PM Narendra Modi at Kalpakkam on March 4, 2024?

Modi is going to be present for the initiation of the core loading of the PFBR at the ICGAR, Kalpakkam on this date. In order to generate power, the reactor control sub-assemblies, blanket sub-assemblies, and fuel sub-assemblies have to be loaded in order during the core loading procedure.


Why have FBRs been controversial?


In 2010, the International Panel on Fissile Materials said that after six decades and the expenditure of tens of billions of dollars, the promise of breeder reactors remained largely unfulfilled. Breeder reactor development programmes in the US, Germany, and the United Kingdom were abandoned.


FBRs use sodium as a coolant, as compared to the more widely-used technology that uses water as a coolant. A leak in an FBR could lead to a sodium fire, which raises safety issues.


The capital costs of setting up FBRs are about 25 per cent more than light-water reactors.


Why are some TN politicians protesting?


Vaiko, MDMK general secretary, and Jawahirullah, president of Manithaneya Makkal Katchi, have raised concerns against the PFBR launch at Kalpakkam over issues like safety risks, cost escalation, and project delays. They point out that several countries have abandoned FBRs due to safety and financial concerns. They quote the cost overrun of the project from ₹3,490 crore to ₹7,700 crore.


Vaiko has criticised the central government’s prioritisation of nuclear projects over flood relief funds. Jawahirullah targets the project for potentially turning Tamil Nadu into a “dumpyard” for nuclear waste. They also say that nuclear projects are moved to Tamil Nadu because of opposition in BJP-ruled states.

Beloyarsk has an older 600MW reactor too. It has been operating since 1980.

 

[AjayGhatak]

This reactor is very important for a totally different reason.

1. This is NOT in IAEA Safeguard.
2. This breeds plutonium.

This single reactor alone can breed 150 KG weapons grade plutonium per year. India currently produces 20-25 KG of weapons grade plutonium per year. This single reactor will change everything.

 

[Circadian Rhythm]

This reactor is very important for a totally different reason.

1. This is NOT in IAEA Safeguard.
2. This breeds plutonium.

This single reactor alone can breed 150 KG weapons grade plutonium per year. India currently produces 20-25 KG of weapons grade plutonium per year. This single reactor will change everything.

The plutonium produced will be used for Thorium Reactors of the Future

 

[onlinpunit]

First of all, congratulations to India for its breakthrough development in the field of nuclear power. For the people of India, this is indeed something to celebrate.

I don't understand why India always likes to compare China and always find self-excitement in some strange angles.

China ranks first in the world in annual electricity generation, twice as much as the second-ranked United States and four times as large as India.
Nuclear power is only one type of clean energy in China, and hydropower and solar power account for a very high proportion in China.

So, what is the author of this article trying to express? India's nuclear power technology far surpasses China's? Or is India's clean energy technology far superior to China's? Or, India has the world's largest power generation capacity?

Are you hallucinating ? Where in this article comparison with china was done ?

 

[onlinpunit]

What is it ?

We are not interested in comparing ourselves to India in any way.

Are you that desperate for earning social credit ?

 

[Guynextdoor]

What is it ?

We are not interested in comparing ourselves to India in any way.

Then why don't you go away from this thread?

 

[AjayGhatak]

The plutonium produced will be used for Thorium Reactors of the Future

it can be used for anything.

 

[AjayGhatak]

And that article is NOT from India. It's from Independent, UK.

I have a kind of feeling that these folks are using some kind of substandard English to Chinese translator. Which is why they are getting these wrong ideas.

 

[Circadian Rhythm]

it can be used for anything.

If you are talking of weapons grade plutonium, We have enough of it

The US Nuclear deal helped us to use our Own Uranium for making Weapons grade plutonium while the Fuel for 14 Safegaurded Power plants was imported

Anyways the Un- safeguarded reactors ie 8 in Number ie NOT under IAEA supervision produce enough Plutonium through Re processing

 

[CallSignMaverick]

Due to its complexity and the need for indigenous technology, the project has faced delays and cost overruns, now amounting to ₹68,400m (£651.43m).

Reason why this country is so mediocre at deeptech. Investing negligible sums of money on RD&D. Kudos to those engineers who deliver at such low funding levels.

 

[EugeneP]

Reason why this country is so mediocre at deeptech. Investing negligible sums of money on RD&D. Kudos to those engineers who deliver at such low funding levels.

Wow, being only the second country in the world with a very complex nuclear energy technology that practically generates infinite amount of electricity without any CO2, all developed for under a billion USD is mediocre? Do you know many BS social media startups burn that cash in Silicon Valley and have nothing to show after two years?

 

[AjayGhatak]

If you are talking of weapons grade plutonium, We have enough of it

India produces 20-25 KG of weapons grade plutonium from its Dhurv reactor every year. That Reactor has been in operation from 1988 though it had to be shutdown few times due to issues.

This means there is maximum 25*35 = 800 KG of weapons grade plutonium. Remaining came from CIRUS which was shutdown in 2010.

CIRUS plutonium powered Indian ATV project and first two series of nuke tests.

India DOES have nuclear waste to reprocess from its unsafeguarded pressurised reactors but that will give it reactor grade plutonium. That itself is usable in bomb designs but they will be heavier due to higher critical mass.

A source of 150 KG weapons grade plutonium per year will be a great source to replenish its supply of fissile material for weapons production.

10 KG per weapon with boosting with Tritium will give a weapon of about 100KT yield. A very good deterrence tool. Each year India can commission 15 warheads. And there is a plan to build 7 of these reactors. That's more than India's total stockpile generated annually.

My one and only worry, if I were an Indian, is the sodium that these reactors use. Makes them a powder keg. Hopefully India trains its reactor operation staff well and does not recruit by DEI quotas.

 

[CallSignMaverick]

Wow, being only the second country in the world with a very complex nuclear energy technology that practically generates infinite amount of electricity without any CO2, all developed for under a billion USD is mediocre? Do you know many BS social media startups burn that cash in Silicon Valley and have nothing to show after two years?

Yes it indeed is, biggest example is our jet engine programme. They spent just less than $400 million over a period of multiple decades to get this done, when ideally should've spend a lot lot more.

This was I guess almost 2 decades ago, not much has changed. Low budget has reduced the potential output of ISRO, GTRE and various institutions looking to build strategic projects of national importance. Just because it got it done for cheap doesn't mean more couldn't have been achieved with throwing extra funds.

 

[EugeneP]

Yes it indeed is, biggest example is our jet engine programme. They spent just less than $400 million over a period of multiple decades to get this done, when ideally should've spend a lot lot more.

This was I guess almost 2 decades ago, not much has changed. Low budget has reduced the potential output of ISRO, GTRE and various institutions looking to build strategic projects of national importance. Just because it got it done for cheap doesn't mean more couldn't have been achieved with throwing extra funds.

You are making a lot of assumptions. India is a developing country where funds are precious and have to be husbanded much more carefully. Besides that,
Fundamental technology can't be developed quickly. The jet engine you showed needs years of development in metallurgy, machining, combustion engineering, control engineering (stability design), etc., each of which take years to master and then integrate into a functioning production unit that is economical. Jet engine development has to contend with a lot of technology bottlenecks since many items may be difficult to import due to them being dual nature etc., Even throwing infinite funds at it might have advanced the schedule by some amount but not a lot. Otherwise, Saudi Arabia or Kuwait or UAE can write a check and start producing airliners in 10 years. That can't happen. You can be sure they will be importing not just airliners but also cars, computers and calculators as far as the eye can see.

 

[Circadian Rhythm]

Indigenous fast breeder reactor set to become critical: AEC chief | India News - Times of India

India News: The Department of Atomic Energy in India will soon see its first 500MW Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor near Chennai become critical. This reactor is pa

www.google.com