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The development of FBRs is a significant step in India’s pursuit of enhancing its nuclear energy capacity and its long-sought goal of energy security and decarbonisation
Image Source: Getty
On 27 July 2024, the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) officially granted permission for the “first approach to criticality” of India’s first Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) at Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu. The indigenously developed nuclear reactor is set to be operational soon, which would establish it as only the second country in the world to do so after Russia. What makes this development so significant? Primarily, this marks the first instance when India gets the opportunity to put its vast thorium reserves to good use, thereby furthering the cause of achieving independence from the import of nuclear fuel and accelerating the push for energy security.
India chose to adopt a three-stage nuclear fuel programme in the 1960s and has been pursuing it actively ever since. In the first stage, Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs) fueled by natural uranium (which is 99.28 percent uranium-238 by concentration) would be used to generate electricity, and plutonium as a by-product. The latter would be extracted to create a Uranium-Plutonium Mixed Oxide (MOX) fuel which would subsequently be used as fuel for a Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR) constituting the second stage. The word “fast” comes from the fact that FBRs use fast neutrons for the fission reaction instead of the slow neutrons traditionally employed by the PHWRs. This stage would also employ the use of thorium (Th-232) to enable the “breeding” of Uranium-233 (U-233). This highlights the fact that thorium by itself is a fertile rather than a fissile material, implying that it cannot be used directly to generate energy via a fission reaction. The combination of Th-232 and U-233 would then be used as fuel in Advanced Heavy Water Reactors (AHWRs) constituting the third stage for energy generation.
The word “fast” comes from the fact that FBRs use fast neutrons for the fission reaction instead of the slow neutrons traditionally employed by the PHWRs.
The benefit of this three-stage closed fuel cycle is that it utilises spent nuclear fuel, which would otherwise have to be disposed of, along with thorium to create or breed more nuclear fuel than what was initially put in, thereby providing a viable and long-term source for energy production. This is possible thanks to the vast thorium reserves possessed by India, which is a resource that is lacking in most countries around the world. According to the World Nuclear Association, India possesses the largest thorium reserves in the world as of 2016, estimated at about 846,000 tonnes, which is a little over 13 percent of global reserves. Most of this is in the form of Monazite sands in Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Kerala.
The Indian government approved the creation of the Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Limited (BHAVINI) in 2003, a government enterprise under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), with the express purpose of constructing and operating the PFBR. Though construction was supposed to be completed by 2010, the project was delayed several times due to a multitude of reasons, which also led to the cost ballooning from the initially assigned INR 3,492 crore to INR 7,670 crore in 2023. The PFBR was designed by the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) at Kalpakkam and as such, it has been designed and constructed completely indigenously with significant contributions from more than 200 Indian industries including MSMEs.
The PFBR has a capacity of 500 MWe and uses liquid sodium as a coolant. It uses a uranium-plutonium MOX fuel which is loaded into the reactor core with a blanket of U-238. The fission products react with this blanket to transmute the U-238, thereby producing more plutonium than the reactor consumes. The reactor is envisaged to use thorium in the blanket in addition to the U-238 in the future.
Once a sustained nuclear fission chain reaction, known as reaching criticality, is achieved, a series of low-power physics experiments will be conducted to further assess and understand reactor behaviour.
“Core Loading” of the reactor commenced in March 2024, followed by the first approach to criticality. Once a sustained nuclear fission chain reaction, known as reaching criticality, is achieved, a series of low-power physics experiments will be conducted to further assess and understand reactor behaviour.
Despite the advanced technology involved, both the capital and per unit electricity cost are to other nuclear and conventional power plants. However, since the PFBR uses spent fuel from the first stage, it offers a great advantage since the nuclear waste generated is significantly reduced which alleviates the need for large geological deposits while also helping to reduce long-term radio-toxicity associated with high-level nuclear waste.
Though the progress at the Kalpakkam PFBR is certainly worthy of praise, India still has a long way to go in its quest for energy security. The construction of more FBRs will be crucial in order to achieve the commercialisation of the technology. The DAE had proposed the building of four more 600 MWe in 2019—two in Kalpakkam from 2021 and two more from 2025, with sites yet to be selected. In the 2024 Union Budget, the Government of India announced that it would partner with the private sector to develop compact nuclear reactors or “Bharat Small Reactors.” This is a step in the right direction and further collaborating with the private sector in constructing FBRs would provide a major impetus to this endeavour and could significantly boost the commercial utilisation of thorium on a larger scale.
The development of spent fuel reprocessing of thorium-based fuel will be a key factor in the commercialisation of FBRs. However, this is still in the early stages of development and further R&D is required in this area. Further research is also required in developing the third and final stage of India’s closed nuclear fuel cycle programme which would entail developing a Th-232–U-233 reactor design. Pursuing these in parallel to the commercial establishment of FBRs, which is still likely decades away according to the DAE itself (2019), would be prudent. The involvement of the private sector could also help accelerate R&D.
International collaboration will also be crucial in furthering R&D. Despite being at the forefront of thorium-related research and extensive collaboration with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and adherence to its guidelines, India is still not a member of multilateral groupings working on thorium-based systems such as the Generation IV International Forum (GIF). This is most likely due to the DAE’s refusal to accept international safeguards on the PFBR, given its strategic and commercial importance. This can be ameliorated if India can leverage its R&D and non-proliferation credentials to join these forums.
ANEEL can be used in existing PHWRs while being more efficient and producing less waste than natural uranium.
Another issue arises from the fact that despite the use of thorium, FBRs still require large quantities of uranium, not to mention, it is also essential for the first stage of the nuclear fuel cycle. India does not possess sufficient uranium reserves and is still heavily dependent on imports. Additionally, most advanced reactors and small modular reactors in the future will require a nuclear fuel called HALEU (High Assay Low Enriched Uranium)—a mixture of thorium and uranium between 5 percent and 20 percent enrichment. HALEU is not yet commercially available, and only Russia and China have the necessary infrastructure to produce it at scale. A possible solution to this problem comes in the form of a HALEU fuel called ANEEL (Advanced Nuclear Energy for Enriched Life) which has been developed by a Chicago-based company called Clean Core Thorium Energy. ANEEL can be used in existing PHWRs while being more efficient and producing less waste than natural uranium. Given Clean Core’s near-term timeline for commercialisation, it may be a viable alternative for India.
The development of FBRs is a significant step in India’s pursuit of enhancing its nuclear energy capacity. This, however, is a long-term endeavour and is likely decades off. Furthermore, it will require careful planning, investment, and R&D. Involvement of the private sector and increased international collaboration are also sure to pay dividends. The Kalpakkam PFBR is a welcome step in this direction and presents India with an opportunity to achieve its long-sought goal of energy security and decarbonisation.
Prateek Tripathi is a Research Assistant at the Observer Research Foundation.
The views expressed above belong to the author(s). ORF research and analyses now available on Telegram! Click here to access our curated content — blogs, longforms and interviews.
Prateek Tripathi is a Junior Fellow at the Centre for Security, Strategy and Technology. His work focuses on emerging technologies and deep tech including quantum technology ...
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