8216;India8217;s N-power share to be nearly 25 per cent by 20508217;

India's nuclear power share is projected to be almost 25 per cent of the country's total energy produced by 2050.

India8217;s nuclear power share is projected to be almost 25 per cent of the country8217;s total energy produced by 2050 with most of it coming from fast breeder reactors,a top nuclear scientist has said.

8220;India8217;s N-power share will be almost 25 per cent by 2050,which comes mainly from fast breeder reactors FBRs,particularly,from sodium cooled fast reactors SFR,8221; Dr Baldev Raj,distinguished scientist and Director,Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research IGCAR said.

Successful operation of 40 MW thermal equivalent to 13 MW electric capacity fast breeder test reactor FBTR over 25 years,construction of 500 MW prototype fast breeder reactor to be commissioned in 2011,will make fast breeder reactors as most essential and inevitable for the realisation of nuclear contribution projected in India,Raj said.

8220;A systematic road map has been conceived towards gradual introduction of FBRs to generate about 3.5 GW in 2023.

8220;Metallic fuel is planned to be introduced through 1000 MW units beyond 2025,8221; he said,speaking at the national conference on 8216;Advances in Nuclear Technology8217; organised by the DAE and Indian national Academy of Engineering.

It is envisaged that six more such units,similar to PFBR,will be commissioned by the year 2023. Subsequently,a series of 1000 MW metallic core FBRs would be constructed to realise the nuclear contributions completely,he said.

The fast breeder class of reactors are under the Public sector undertaking Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Ltd BHAVINI,a sister firm of Nuclear Power Corporation of India limited NPCIL.

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8220;To achieve this mission,the challenges in SFR technology have been brought out. The operating experiences of FBTR,design and construction experiences of PFBR,Ramp;D outputs and well planned Ramp;D activities are being carried out for future SFRs to achieve targeted economy and safety,8221; Raj said.

These provide high confidence on fulfilling the mission of SFR development. SFR will be an inevitable option,at least up to 2050,he said.

8220;Establishing techno-economic viability through sodium fast reactors with mixed uranium plutonium oxide MOX fuel and closed fuel cycle,design for long life nuclear reactors 100 years,significant reduction of capital cost and fuel cycle cost,metallic fuel with high breeding to achieve shorter doubling time,construction of a series of large size reactors 1000 MWe with co-located fuel cycle facilities are some of the calibrated priorities for India,8221; he said.

Beyond 2050,other potential options such as renewable energy,especially for distributed energy resources,thorium based technology,fusion technology,economical and sustainable hydrogen based systems are likely to emerge,the scientist said.