PARLIAMENT QUESTION: NUCLEAR FUEL PROGRAMME

Key Highlights:

• Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) promotes indigenous thorium-based technologies for long-term energy security and self-reliance.
• India's Three Stage Nuclear Power Programme aims to optimally utilize limited uranium and vast thorium reserves.
• The program is based on a closed fuel cycle, where spent fuel from one stage is used for the next.
• The Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) attained its first criticality on April 6, 2026, marking India's entry into the second stage.
• Research and development for thorium utilization, including Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) technology, is underway for the third stage.

Detailed Insights:

• The first stage of the program focuses on Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs), with DAE having expertise in their design, manufacturing, and fuel cycle.
• Plutonium extracted from the spent fuel of domestic PHWRs is used as fuel for the second stage.
• Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) has developed indigenous back-end fuel cycle technologies, with plants operational at Tarapur and Kalpakkam.
• Integrated Nuclear Recycle Plant (INRP) at Tarapur and Fast Reactor Fuel Cycle Facility (FRFCF) at Kalpakkam are under construction for reprocessing spent fuel.
• The third stage envisages using Uranium-233 bred from Thorium-232 as fuel.
• Thoria pellets have been used in operating PHWRs, and Uranium-233 from reprocessed Thoria pins fuels the Kalpakkam Mini Reactor (KAMINI).
• Large-scale thorium utilization will follow only after adequate installed capacity of Fast Breeder Reactors (FBRs) has been achieved.
• Molten Salt Reactor (MSR) is being developed as a suitable technology for efficient, long-term thorium utilization.

Key Concepts Involved:

• Three Stage Nuclear Power Programme: India's strategy to achieve energy independence using its thorium reserves through a closed fuel cycle.
• Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs): First stage reactors using natural uranium, producing plutonium for the second stage.
• Fast Breeder Reactors (FBRs): Second stage reactors that produce more fissile material (plutonium) than they consume, using plutonium from PHWRs.
• Molten Salt Reactor (MSR): A future reactor design considered suitable for efficient, long-term utilization of thorium.