AERB Chairman Dinesh Kumar Shukla Unveils Plan For India's Energy Self-Reliance With 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor

Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Chairman Dinesh Kumar Shukla on Thursday said that Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) was working on making country self-reliant in energy need for the next 400 to 500 years. Sharing the plan with Free Press, he said that AERB was getting ready for second stage test of of 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR). He was in Indore to inaugurate exhibition at RRCAT.

“The country has ample quantity of thorium. Hence, we can use it for many years. Breeder means that the more fuel you put in, the more energy it produces. So, your energy will be self-sustaining for the next 400 to 500 years,” he said. “The entire project is dependent on the success of our second stage. If the second stage is successful, we will run it ourselves,” he added.

The AERB has already cleared loading of fuel nuclear in the 500 MWe PFBR. Following nuclear regulator’s approval, the department of atomic energy can now operate its first large ‘breeder reactor,’ which will produce more nuclear fuel than it uses. “It has three stages. In the first stage, we used limited amount of uranium. We have successfully used our own technology—the pressurized high water reactor. The high water reactor is already operational,” Shukla said.

“This reactor converts uranium into plutonium. The plutonium is used in fast breeder reactor, along with thorium in the second stage. the thorium and the plutonium can mix and used in the second stage The thorium used in the blanket is converted into uranium-233, which can be reused as a fuel,” he added.

As planned by Homi Bhabha over 70 years back, the 500 MW PFBR would mark India’s entry into the second phase of nuclear power programme. The development would allow using plutonium as a nuclear fuel, and more importantly, using thorium as an atomic energy resource.

“For the second stage, we had to make a test reactor. This will be a sodium-cooled test reactor. Sodium is inflammable and if we leave the sodium open, it will catch fire. We have to be very careful about safety. You cannot make a complete power reactor,” he added.

History of reactor

The first fast breeder test reactor was made in 1985 in Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) at Kalpakkam. It has been running for 40 years. We have complete experience of it. With that experience, a prototype fast breeder reactor is being made for energy. It is being made in Kalpakkam by Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Limited, a Central government enterprise under the Department of Atomic Energy.