Fast Breeder Reactor to be commissioned next year

“Our anxiety about technological challenges for the construction of the country’s first 500 MW Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) is over and we are at the closure for technology delivery,” said IGCAR Director Baldev Raj.

The indigenously-developed PFBR is at an advanced stage of construction under the aegis of state-owned Bhartiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam (BHAVINI) and is expected to be commissioned early next year.

Raj said the technology developed by scientists at IGCAR was unique and the Indian PFBR would be the first such nuclear plant to be commissioned.

Some other countries,including Korea,are also developing fast breeder reactors but they could be commissioned only in 2025. “We are confident of successfully commissioning the PFBR and are very cautious to deliver high capacity and high safety reactor of the second stage of the country’s three-stage programme closed fuel cycle,” Raj said.

“The confidence has been reviewed by the DAE as well as commented upon by the international peer review – all favourably,” he said.

The sodium-cooled PFBR uses Uranium-Plutonium mixed oxide as fuel.

The scientists have also successfully loaded 1,500 tonnes of the molten sodium which will be the coolant of the reactor. The total requirement is about 1,700 tonnes. “We do not see any concern in commissioning the PFBR,” he said.

This is a result of decades of focused research at IGCAR towards mastering the technology with which we now have 400 reactor years of experience,he said. “We were able to overcome the technological challenges due to synergistic efforts of scientists of IGCAR,BHAVINI,the Indian manufacturing sector and about 200 academic institutions who have network with us,” Raj said.

He said the technology development was done seven to eight years before launching PFBR in 2003.

India plans to have at least five more 500 MW fast breeder reactors by 2020,two of which could be set up at Kalpakkam.

The IGCAR director said that the quality specifications of equipment and components for PFBR were so stringent that if the Indian industry is able to make these components,they can create almost any technology. “In other words,our manufacturing industry is in the upper hierarchy of engineering quality and specifications and therefore there was no difficulty in launching PFBR project at Kalpakkam,” Raj said.

A Fast Reactor Fuel Cycle (FRFC) is also being set up in Kalpakkam for the reprocessing of spent fuel from fast breeder reactors.

“We do not want to move large amount of highly radioactive plutonium and highly irradiated fuel in public domain,” Raj said.

The FRFC is expected to be commissioned by 2016. “The design for Fast Reactor Fuel Cycle Facility is in advanced stage and Cabinet approval for it is expected soon,” Raj said.

All the six FBRs will use uranium-plutonium mixed oxide fuel as the PFBR,he said,adding that the future FBRs will be use metallic fuel mainly using a mix of uranium,plutonium and small quantity of zirconium.

When metallic fuel is used,breeding is significantly high and therefore we can multiply power faster,he said.

The state-of-the-art PFBR has inbuilt safety features and an array of sensors to detect any minuscule leak of sodium,which may prove hazardous.

On the external front,a unique structural wall has also been erected around the area and the adjoining Kalpakkam township as a measure to protect against tsunami.

The wall can withstand tsunami 50 per cent stronger than the one that hit the Tamil Nadu coast on December 26,2004.