Prime Minister Narendra Modi witnessed the initiation of core loading at the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) on March 4.
This 500 megawatt electric (MWe) Fast Breeder Reactor has been developed by Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Limited (BHAVINI).
Upon completion of the core loading, the first approach to criticality will be achieved, leading to generation of power subsequently.
Nuclear energy
• Fossil fuel resources are not renewable. Industry experts are supporting increased adoption of nuclear and renewable energy as well as increased use of energy efficiency techniques.
• India has an ambitious plan to generate electricity through nuclear reactors.
• Nuclear energy protects air quality by producing massive amounts of carbon-free electricity.
• It generates power through fission, which is the process of splitting uranium atoms to produce energy. The heat released by fission is used to create steam that spins a turbine to generate electricity without the harmful byproducts emitted by fossil fuels.
• Nuclear energy offers the most potent solution to long-term energy security.
• India has to successfully realise the three-stage development programme and thereby tap its vast thorium resources to become truly energy independent beyond 2050.
Challenges in nuclear energy adoption
• Nuclear power is inherently a high technology enterprise and that is the fundamental reason for not many countries having it.
• Although the inevitability of nuclear energy in the energy mix is now universally accepted, there exist some associated challenges. These emerge mainly from the public perception of risks associated with nuclear power.
• These include safety, radio-active waste management, costs and other perceived risks like effects on health, security and proliferation.
• The availability of infrastructure for supply-chain and project execution, sites, human resource and investments are the other key challenges in implementation of the programme
Three stages of India’s nuclear power programme
• India’s nuclear power programme has three stages with an objective to utilise modest uranium and large thorium reserves in the country to provide long term energy security.
• The programme is sequential and each stage has fuel cycle linkages in which spent fuel from one stage is reprocessed to obtain fuel for the next stage.
The three stages of the programme are:
i) First stage of Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) using natural uranium fuel.
ii) Second stage of Fast Breeder Reactors (FBRs) using plutonium as fuel.
iii) Third stage of advanced reactors using U-233 as fuel in thorium-uranium cycle.
• The first stage yields plutonium, which forms the basis of development of the second stage, using plutonium along with depleted uranium/thorium in Fast Breeder Reactors (FBRs). This stage yields more plutonium.
• FBR, with closed fuel cycle as the energy resource, is capable of generating a large amount of U-233 (a fissile isotope) from the abundant available thorium within the country, to launch the third stage nuclear energy programme based on U-233 fuel cycle.
• The commercial deployment of thorium requires a significant capacity of FBRs and development of technologies for thorium utilization.
• Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) pursues the first stage of the programme comprising PHWRs, while Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Limited (BHAVINI) pursues the second stage of Nuclear Power Programme comprising FBRs.
• BHAVINI is a wholly owned enterprise of the government of India under the administrative control of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE).
• BHAVINI was incorporated on October 22, 2003 as a Public Limited Company with the objective to construct, commission, operate and maintain FBRs.
• The mandate of BHAVINI is to construct and operate Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) at Kalpakkam, and future FBRs. The FBRs will generate power by recycling plutonium and depleted uranium recovered from the spent fuel of the PHWRs.
Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) in Kalpakkam
• A Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR) is a nuclear reactor that uses fast neutrons to generate more nuclear fuels than they consume while generating power, dramatically enhancing the efficiency of the use of resources.
• Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) carried out a comprehensive R&D on sodium cooled Fast Breeder Reactor technology for the past few decades.
• A test reactor, called Fast Breeder Test Reactors (FBTR), was in operation from 1985 which provided valuable feedback.
• The FBTR was operated for about 120 days at 40 MWt and generated 21.5 million units of electricity last year.
• Based on this experience and also taking into account the international experience, design of a 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) was done.
• Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Ltd (BHAVINI) constructed the 500 MWe PFBR at Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu.
• PFBR is liquid sodium cooled, pool type reactor using mixed oxide of uranium and plutonium as fuel.
• The plant is located 500 m south of the existing Madras Atomic Power Station.
• In the PFBR, spent fuel from the first stage is reprocessed and used as fuel.
• A unique feature of this sodium-cooled PFBR is that it can produce more fuel than it consumes, helping in achieving self-reliance in fuel supply for future fast reactors.
• PFBR is a stepping stone for the third stage of the programme, paving the way for the eventual full utilisation of India’s abundant thorium reserves.
• In terms of safety, PFBR is an advanced third-generation reactor with inherent passive safety features ensuring a prompt and safe shutdown of the plant in the event of an emergency.
• Since it uses the spent fuel from the first stage, PFBR also offers a great advantage in terms of a significant reduction in nuclear waste generated, thereby avoiding the need for large geological disposal facilities.
