India’s most advanced nuclear reactor has reached self-sustaining level, a major leap forward for the country’s nuclear power programme, and taking it closer to cutting its dependence on uranium.
The prototype fast breeder reactor (PBFR) at Kalpakkam in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu reached critical condition on Monday – the stage at which a nuclear chain reaction can continue on its own. Once the reactor is fully operational, India will become the second country after Russia to have a commercial fast breeder reactor.
Recommended Stories
list of 3 itemsend of list
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called it “a proud moment for India” and “a decisive step” in advancing the country’s nuclear programme.
“This advanced reactor, capable of producing more fuel than it consumes, reflects the depth of our scientific capability and the strength of our engineering enterprise. It is a decisive step towards exploiting our vast thorium reserves in the third phase of the programme,” he said. Said In a post on X on Monday.
So what is a fast breeder reactor, and why does this latest advancement matter for India and the world?
Here’s what we know:
What is India’s fast breeder reactor?
A fast breeder reactor is an advanced nuclear reactor that produces more fissile material than it consumes – fuel that can be used for fission nuclear reactions.
India’s fast breeder reactor has been designed and developed by the Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research (IGCAR), a premier research and development institute under the country’s Department of Atomic Energy. It has a capacity of 500 megawatt electricity (MWe).
The nuclear reactors that India and most other countries use are known as pressurized heavy water reactors. They use uranium as their fuel, and emit plutonium as waste.
But a fast breeder reactor could use that emitted plutonium as fuel to speed up a self-sustaining nuclear reaction. Fast breeder reactors also use uranium as fuel, but there is less need for it because they can also consume plutonium. So in fact, the Kalpakkam reactor will require less uranium to generate power than heavy water reactors.
That is why it is called the second phase of India’s nuclear program.
Government of India on Monday Said The reactor is “designed to enable India to extract more energy from its limited uranium reserves, while paving the way for the large-scale deployment of thorium-based reactors.”
March 1, 2024 report Modi’s office said India’s PFBR “will initially use uranium-plutonium mixed oxide (MOX) fuel. The uranium-238 ‘blanket’ surrounding the fuel core will undergo nuclear transmutation to produce more fuel, thus giving it the name ‘breeder’.”
Uranium-238 refers to the most abundant, naturally occurring form of uranium that is only weakly radioactive on its own, but it can transform into plutonium by capturing neutrons.
“Since it uses spent fuel from the first stage, the (FBR) (Fast Breeder Reactor) also offers major benefits in terms of a significant reduction in the nuclear waste generated, thereby avoiding the need for large geological disposal facilities,” the report said.
How does a fast breeder reactor work?
Paul Norman, professor of nuclear physics and nuclear energy at the University of Birmingham, told Al Jazeera that – as the Indian Prime Minister’s Office said in its report – fast breeder reactors use both plutonium and uranium. Uranium is further converted into plutonium.
“A bonus of this type of system is that it could theoretically significantly increase the nuclear fuel stockpile by using ‘the whole uranium’ (via plutonium conversion) rather than a small portion of it,” he said.
“Technology could also be turned toward thorium systems, and the Earth would have more thorium than uranium, allowing even more nuclear fuel,” he said.
Globally, thorium reserves are four times larger than uranium reserves.
And in India, the equation is even more complex: the country has about 1-2 percent of the world’s uranium, but more than 25 percent of the world’s thorium.
How do huge thorium reserves help India?
Construction of the PFBR officially began in 2004 after several delays. But its importance was highlighted long ago by the scientists of the country.
October 1, 1996 report Written by Indian scientists Shivaram Baburao Bhoje and Perumal Chellapandi for the International Atomic Energy Agency, the fast reactor program was important in India because of the country’s growing and sustained demand for electricity.
India is the world’s third largest energy consumer after China and the United States. With the world’s largest population and fast-growing economy, India’s energy consumption is expected to grow further.
As the war on Iran and its impact on global energy prices has demonstrated, continued overdependence on fossil fuels poses risks to economies like India.
At the moment, nuclear power represents only 3 percent of the country’s energy mix, but India wants to dramatically increase it from 8,180MW in 2024 to 100GW by 2047.
This is where the three-stage nuclear program and thorium fit in.
In the second stage, fast breeder reactors use uranium and plutonium waste from heavy water reactors to generate electricity. They also produce more plutonium and a lighter isotope of uranium called uranium-233, which is ready, fissile material that can be used as fuel in stage three reactors.
Those stage three reactors, once designed, will be thorium-based. They will be fed thorium – which India has in abundance – and uranium-233. The waste produced from those reactors: also uranium-233, which can be fed back into the reactors as fuel.
Once India completes its three-step process, it will actually be able to significantly reduce its need for naturally occurring uranium, and instead use thorium for most of its nuclear energy needs.
Why does this matter to the rest of the world?
Other countries including America, France, Britain, Japan and Russia have worked on fast breeder reactor technology.
But so far only Russia has a commercial fast breeder reactor.
Norman said the challenges of reactor materials, reprocessing and the economics of the entire process have often prevented large-scale deployment of such systems.
If India is able to translate the success of its prototype reactor into a commercial nuclear-power-producing model, it could inspire other countries to follow suit.
