India's top nuclear scientist calls for early thorium shift in PHWRS, Pg13

Key Highlights:

• India's top nuclear scientist, Anil Kakodkar, advocates for the early introduction of thorium-based fuel into indigenous Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs).
• This move aims to accelerate the utilization of India's abundant thorium reserves and address potential uranium supply constraints.
• The proposal runs in parallel with India's existing three-stage nuclear power programme, conceived by Homi Jehangir Bhabha.
• The use of HALEU-thorium fuel in PHWRs is suggested as a way to achieve large-scale thorium irradiation without significant design changes.

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Detailed Insights:

• PHWRs are identified as robust, safe, and economically competitive platforms for utilizing thorium among thermal reactors.
• India's 100 GWe nuclear mission by 2047 is expected to see PHWRs occupying a major share, complemented by imported Light Water Reactors (LWRs).
• A global supply-demand mismatch for uranium is anticipated in the next 10-15 years, making thorium utilization critical for energy security.
• Fast Breeder Reactors (FBRs) are crucial for long-term energy security but their large-scale deployment is still decades away.
• Early thorium irradiation in PHWRs offers benefits like reduced spent fuel inventory, uranium saving, and enhanced safety.
• This approach could enable an earlier initiation of the third stage of the nuclear program, potentially deploying Thorium Molten Salt Reactors (TMSRs) in about 15 years.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR): A nuclear power reactor that uses heavy water as its coolant and neutron moderator.
• Three-stage nuclear power programme: India's long-term strategy for energy independence, designed to use its vast thorium reserves.
• Thorium: A naturally occurring radioactive metal, abundant in India, that can be used as a nuclear fuel.
• Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR): A nuclear reactor that produces more fissile material than it consumes, primarily using uranium-238 to breed plutonium.
• HALEU (High-Assay Low-Enriched Uranium): Uranium enriched to between 5% and 20% in the fissile isotope uranium-235.
• Thorium Molten Salt Reactor (TMSR): A type of molten salt reactor designed to operate on a thorium fuel cycle.