India's First Commercial Fast Breeder Reactor [500 MWe] Is Getting Ready!

India's first fast breeder reactor (PFBR) at Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu is the first ever commercial fast breeder nuclear reactor currently under its final stages of construction. The Hindu reports that the chairman of Atomic Energy Commission of India, R.K. Sinha has informed the press that all the major equipment of the reactor have been erected and currently the engineering teams are working on loading of the dummy fuels in the peripheral locations of the reactor. Sinha was addressing the International Energy Agency (IAEA) International Ministerial Conference on Nuclear Power in Russia.

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The PFBR is being developed by the Indira Gandhi Centre For Atomic Research (IGCAR). The total cost of the construction of the project is estimated to be about Rs. 5677 crore (aka 56.77 Billion Rupees). You may ask why is India interested in building the PFBR and the answer lies in the fuel it can use. The PFBR can use the thorium fuel cycle and it's an established fact that India is home to world's second largest reserves of Thorium.

The PFBR at Kalpakkam uses Uranium-238 (not Thorium) to breed the new fissile material inside a sodium-cooled fast reactor. India's 'Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) is responsible for harnessing the power produced by the reactor.

The reactor was to be completed and commissioned by the end of 2010; but the project got delayed because of various reasons and is now expected to go live by September 2014. We hope the reactor will be operational by the set deadline. Electricity generated from the reason will be sold to the State Electricity Boards at a fixed rate of Rs. 4.44 / unit.

Via: India’s Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor at advanced stage of completion - The Hindu

Replies

  • Ashraf HZ
    Ashraf HZ
    What is the expected output?

    Hopefully the safety protocols are very stringent. Liquid sodium as a coolant is quite dangerous 😔 Quite a number of mishaps have occurred involving sodium leakage.
  • Jeffrey Arulraj
    Jeffrey Arulraj
    ash
    What is the expected output?

    Hopefully the safety protocols are very stringent. Liquid sodium as a coolant is quite dangerous 😔 Quite a number of mishaps have occurred involving sodium leakage.
    The only field in India that I trust in terms of safety is the Nuclear reactors Cos My father worked in jobs related to Kudunkulam, Tamil Nadu power plant and he was taken aback by the precautionary steps that was taken

    He personally said that this is one of the safest construction he had ever seen
  • zeeshanaayan07
    zeeshanaayan07
    Woow This is great news for India. I appreciate india in the field of technology

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