Delayed nuclear unit could be operational this year
Fuel loading has begun at the 470 MW (net) prototype fast breeder reactor (PFBR) at Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu, southern India, the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) announced.
The PFBR is owned and operated by Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Limited (Bhavini) a government enterprise under the DAE that was set up in 2003 to focus on FBRs. Construction of the PFBR began in 2004, with an original expected completion date of 2010.
In March 2023 the parliamentary spokesperson for the DAE said the PFBR is now expected to be completed this year.
The DAE said the PFBR will initially use a core of uranium-plutonium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel, surrounded by a uranium-238 “blanket”, with plans to use a blanket of uranium and thorium to “breed” plutonium and U-233 for use as driver fuels for advanced heavy water reactors being developed by India.
India’s prime minister Narendra Modi was at the site for the start of fuel loading and was briefed on the project.
Reports in India have said the original estimated cost of the project was about $420m (€387m), but this was “being revised” to about $820m.
India has been working on an FBR programme for almost 40 years. The goal is the use of the country’s rich thorium resources.
FBRs have been and are being explored or constructed in India, Russia, France, China, Japan and the US. They allow a significant increase in the amount of energy obtained from natural, depleted and recycled uranium. The technology also enables plutonium and other actinides to be used and recycled.
