Kalpakkam: ‘Critical’ step in 3-stage nuclear programme, Pg15

Key Highlights:

• India's first indigenous Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR) at Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, achieved criticality on Monday, marking a major step in the country's three-stage nuclear power program.
• The 500 MWe Kalpakkam FBR will initially use uranium-plutonium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel and a U-238 blanket to breed more fuel through nuclear transmutation.
• The FBR is a crucial link between the first and third stages of India's nuclear program, facilitating the use of India's abundant thorium reserves for electricity generation.
• Once commissioned, India will be the second country after Russia to have a commercial operating FBR.
• The Department of Atomic Energy aims to increase nuclear power capacity to 22,400 MWe by 2032, including the construction of 10 new PHWRs in "fleet mode".

Detailed Insights:

• India's three-stage nuclear power program aims to utilize thorium for electricity generation, with PHWRs in the first stage, FBRs in the second, and thorium reactors in the third stage.
• FBRs are designed to produce more fuel than they consume, enabling the harnessing of natural uranium energy by over 60 times through multiple recycles and enlarging the inventory of plutonium.
• The Kalpakkam FBR project faced delays due to technological challenges, with the initial completion target of September 2010 revised to October 2022.
• India plans to construct six more FBRs with a capacity of 600MWe each, with two planned at the Kalpakkam site and another site to be identified for the remaining four.
• The "closed fuel cycle" approach involves reprocessing spent fuel to separate useful isotopes and multiply the fissile inventory, working towards establishing a higher power base using thorium in the third stage.
• Nuclear scientist Anil Kakodkar suggests using existing PHWR capacity with imported uranium to convert thorium to fissile uranium, potentially launching the thorium phase earlier than planned.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Criticality: The point at which a nuclear reactor becomes self-sustaining in its fission reaction.
• Nuclear Transmutation: The conversion of one chemical element or isotope into another.
• Closed Fuel Cycle: Reprocessing spent nuclear fuel to extract and reuse valuable materials.