LETHALFORCE
Mod
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2009
- Messages
- 29,871
- Likes
- 48,534
India's Thorium based nuclear power programme
- Thread starter LETHALFORCE
- Start date
LETHALFORCE
Mod
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2009
- Messages
- 29,871
- Likes
- 48,534
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2009
- Messages
- 7,550
- Likes
- 1,307
LETHALFORCE
Mod
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2009
- Messages
- 29,871
- Likes
- 48,534
A future energy giant? India's thorium-based nuclear plans
A future energy giant? India's thorium-based nuclear plans
In October's Physics World - having toured through India's nuclear labs with a British High Commission team -- science writer Matthew Chalmers details India's vision of a secure nuclear-energy future based on thorium technology.
With 40% of its population not yet connected to the electricity grid and an economy growing by about 8% each year, India's need for a bold energy strategy is apparent. While India already has 19 operational pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWRs), the government is planning to increase its nuclear contribution from its current 5GW to 28GW in the next 10 years and to a huge 270GW by 2050.
India's three-stage vision was first set out in the 1950s by the father of the country's nuclear programme, physicist Homi Bhabha. On returning from his studies at Cambridge University in the UK, Bhabha conceived a nuclear strategy that would work around India's rather meagre resources of uranium, the fuel powering current commercial reactors. Instead, he sought to exploit the country's vast reserves of thorium, which - if bathed in an external supply of neutrons - can be used a nuclear fuel.
The first stage of India's grand plan is based around the country's fleet of PHWRs and state-of-the-art research facilities, which have proceeded steadily despite the country being isolated for more than 30 years from the international uranium community after it detonated a nuclear device in 1974.
But following a landmark agreement with the US in October 2008 on civil nuclear co-operation, India can now, in principle, import fuel and reactors, while building more of its own, indigenous PHWRs. These reactors burn uranium while irradiating thorium oxide to produce uranium-233.
Stage two, which seeks to plug India's energy deficit by 2050, involves using reprocessed plutonium to fuel "fast reactors" that breed further uranium-233 and plutonium from thorium and uranium.
In stage three, advanced heavy-water reactors will burn uranium-233 while converting India's thorium reserves into further uranium in a sustainable "closed" cycle. All three stages are running parallel and each has been demonstrated on a laboratory scale.
The UK is also getting on India's thorium plans, with five nuclear-research proposals worth more than £2m being jointly funded by the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and by India's Department of Atomic Energy. One of the grant holders is Mike Fitzpatrick from the Open University, who has already visited India's Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Mumbai and claims to be "amazed at the ambition and resource behind India's nuclear programme, and how much UK researchers could benefit from being associated with it".
India's energy future doesn't however end with thorium. As Chalmers writes, "In a modern context, Bhabha's nuclear vision is part of a wider goal for clean, affordable energy also in form of solar, wind and hydroelectricity - all of which India is investing in heavily.
"India's nuclear programme could even one day encompass nuclear fusion, with the country already a partner in the ITER project currently being built in France, "
A future energy giant? India's thorium-based nuclear plans
In October's Physics World - having toured through India's nuclear labs with a British High Commission team -- science writer Matthew Chalmers details India's vision of a secure nuclear-energy future based on thorium technology.
With 40% of its population not yet connected to the electricity grid and an economy growing by about 8% each year, India's need for a bold energy strategy is apparent. While India already has 19 operational pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWRs), the government is planning to increase its nuclear contribution from its current 5GW to 28GW in the next 10 years and to a huge 270GW by 2050.
India's three-stage vision was first set out in the 1950s by the father of the country's nuclear programme, physicist Homi Bhabha. On returning from his studies at Cambridge University in the UK, Bhabha conceived a nuclear strategy that would work around India's rather meagre resources of uranium, the fuel powering current commercial reactors. Instead, he sought to exploit the country's vast reserves of thorium, which - if bathed in an external supply of neutrons - can be used a nuclear fuel.
The first stage of India's grand plan is based around the country's fleet of PHWRs and state-of-the-art research facilities, which have proceeded steadily despite the country being isolated for more than 30 years from the international uranium community after it detonated a nuclear device in 1974.
But following a landmark agreement with the US in October 2008 on civil nuclear co-operation, India can now, in principle, import fuel and reactors, while building more of its own, indigenous PHWRs. These reactors burn uranium while irradiating thorium oxide to produce uranium-233.
Stage two, which seeks to plug India's energy deficit by 2050, involves using reprocessed plutonium to fuel "fast reactors" that breed further uranium-233 and plutonium from thorium and uranium.
In stage three, advanced heavy-water reactors will burn uranium-233 while converting India's thorium reserves into further uranium in a sustainable "closed" cycle. All three stages are running parallel and each has been demonstrated on a laboratory scale.
The UK is also getting on India's thorium plans, with five nuclear-research proposals worth more than £2m being jointly funded by the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and by India's Department of Atomic Energy. One of the grant holders is Mike Fitzpatrick from the Open University, who has already visited India's Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Mumbai and claims to be "amazed at the ambition and resource behind India's nuclear programme, and how much UK researchers could benefit from being associated with it".
India's energy future doesn't however end with thorium. As Chalmers writes, "In a modern context, Bhabha's nuclear vision is part of a wider goal for clean, affordable energy also in form of solar, wind and hydroelectricity - all of which India is investing in heavily.
"India's nuclear programme could even one day encompass nuclear fusion, with the country already a partner in the ITER project currently being built in France, "
Fast neutron reactors by russia
BN 600 and they are going for BN 800
New, Clear Energy: Russia's Atomic Revolution - YouTube
BN 600 and they are going for BN 800
New, Clear Energy: Russia's Atomic Revolution - YouTube
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2009
- Messages
- 20,311
- Likes
- 8,403
India's first prototype fast breeder reactor at Kalpakkam to go critical early 2013
Chennai: India's first 500-MW prototype fast breeder reactor (PFBR), being set up at Kalpakkam near here, is likely to go critical early next year and commercial generation of electricity is expected in March 2015.
"Construction activities will come to close this year-end. Loading of the part fuel is expected to happen during the first quarter of next year and the reactor would go critical," said S.C. Chetal, director at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) that designed the PFBR.
Chetal is also a director at Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Ltd (BHAVINI), a public sector company under the Directorate of Atomic Energy (DAE), that has been given the responsibility to build fast reactor power plants in the country.
When the PFBR is commissioned, power can be produced at a lesser cost than electricity generated from conventional sources.
A breeder reactor is one that breeds more material for a nuclear fission reaction than it consumes. The reaction produces energy that is used in the form of electricity. The Indian fast reactors will be fuelled by a blend of plutonium and uranium oxide.
While the reactor will break up (fission) plutonium for power production, it will also breed more plutonium than it consumes. The original plutonium comes from natural uranium.
The surplus plutonium from each fast reactor can be used to set up more such reactors and grow the nuclear capacity in tune with India's energy needs.
Fast reactors form a key in the India's three-stage nuclear power programme, which comprises pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWRs) at the first stage, fast breeder reactors (FBRs) at second and thorium-based systems at the third stage. In 1985, India became the sixth country in the world to have such a technology.
The government has said in parliament that the PFBR is expected to begin commercial production in March 2015. Nuclear scientists though are of the view that commercial generation can happen even before that date.
According to Prabhat Kumar, project director, BHAVINI, the PFBR construction work will be over by September this year and testing of various systems would end by December 2012 or January 2013.
"There is no inordinate time lag between PFBR attaining criticality and it starting commercial production given the fact that it is a newly-designed reactor. With small core/fuel lot of tests on reactor physics would be done. Then by gradually increasing the generation engineering tests would be carried out," a nuclear scientist told IANS, preferring anonymity.
"A year of testing will be sufficient after reactor attained criticality," he remarked.
Asked about the delay in commercial production, Chetal said: "The PFBR is first of its kind in the country and we want to be sure about the functioning of each and every system."
According to him, with the loading of part fuel, the reactor systems will be checked by increasing the power generation in a gradual manner.
He does not agree that the delay in commercial production of PFBR would have an impact on the next two fast reactors that is planned at Kalpakkam.
"The design modifications made in the proposed two reactors will not make them as first of its kind. They will be commercial reactors. Since PFBR is new we want to be sure with its systems," Chetal added.
The government has allotted Rs.250 crore for pre-project activities for two more 500 MW units.
It has sanctioned construction of two more 500 MW fast reactors whose location is yet to be finalised.
India`s first PFBR to go critical early 2013
India's first PFBR to go critical early 2013
Chennai: India's first 500-MW prototype fast breeder reactor (PFBR), being set up at Kalpakkam near here, is likely to go critical early next year and commercial generation of electricity is expected in March 2015.
"Construction activities will come to close this year-end. Loading of the part fuel is expected to happen during the first quarter of next year and the reactor would go critical," said S.C. Chetal, director at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) that designed the PFBR.
Chetal is also a director at Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Ltd (BHAVINI), a public sector company under the Directorate of Atomic Energy (DAE), that has been given the responsibility to build fast reactor power plants in the country.
When the PFBR is commissioned, power can be produced at a lesser cost than electricity generated from conventional sources.
A breeder reactor is one that breeds more material for a nuclear fission reaction than it consumes. The reaction produces energy that is used in the form of electricity. The Indian fast reactors will be fuelled by a blend of plutonium and uranium oxide.
While the reactor will break up (fission) plutonium for power production, it will also breed more plutonium than it consumes. The original plutonium comes from natural uranium.
The surplus plutonium from each fast reactor can be used to set up more such reactors and grow the nuclear capacity in tune with India's energy needs.
Fast reactors form a key in the India's three-stage nuclear power programme, which comprises pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWRs) at the first stage, fast breeder reactors (FBRs) at second and thorium-based systems at the third stage. In 1985, India became the sixth country in the world to have such a technology.
The government has said in parliament that the PFBR is expected to begin commercial production in March 2015. Nuclear scientists though are of the view that commercial generation can happen even before that date.
According to Prabhat Kumar, project director, BHAVINI, the PFBR construction work will be over by September this year and testing of various systems would end by December 2012 or January 2013.
"There is no inordinate time lag between PFBR attaining criticality and it starting commercial production given the fact that it is a newly-designed reactor. With small core/fuel lot of tests on reactor physics would be done. Then by gradually increasing the generation engineering tests would be carried out," a nuclear scientist told IANS, preferring anonymity.
"A year of testing will be sufficient after reactor attained criticality," he remarked.
Asked about the delay in commercial production, Chetal said: "The PFBR is first of its kind in the country and we want to be sure about the functioning of each and every system."
According to him, with the loading of part fuel, the reactor systems will be checked by increasing the power generation in a gradual manner.
He does not agree that the delay in commercial production of PFBR would have an impact on the next two fast reactors that is planned at Kalpakkam.
"The design modifications made in the proposed two reactors will not make them as first of its kind. They will be commercial reactors. Since PFBR is new we want to be sure with its systems," Chetal added.
The government has allotted Rs.250 crore for pre-project activities for two more 500 MW units.
It has sanctioned construction of two more 500 MW fast reactors whose location is yet to be finalised.
India`s first PFBR to go critical early 2013
I'm sure someone has gone through this before, but why are we not pursuing a Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor as opposed to the solid fuel Compact High temperature Reactor and Indian High Temperature Reactor?
What is the advantage of the LFTR over other types of molten salt thorium reacotrs such as the ones we are pursuing?
It seems the rest of the world is going the LFTR way, but for what reason?
Furthermore, is it not possible to skip a stage in the 3 stage nuclear programme? It is taking far too long to realise Homi Bhabas vision
What is the advantage of the LFTR over other types of molten salt thorium reacotrs such as the ones we are pursuing?
It seems the rest of the world is going the LFTR way, but for what reason?
Furthermore, is it not possible to skip a stage in the 3 stage nuclear programme? It is taking far too long to realise Homi Bhabas vision
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2009
- Messages
- 7,550
- Likes
- 1,307
trackwhack
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2011
- Messages
- 3,757
- Likes
- 2,590
No one is going for LFTR yet. There are reports that China has started research on it. The only reactor based on a Liquid fluoride concept was the one at Oak Ridge in US which was decommissioned within a year of going critical. So essentially the LFTR (and all its benefits) are still on paper and have not been demonstrably proven
From India's perspective, we have invested significantly in thorium research but on solid fuelled reactors. We do not have the financial muscle to start parallel research on LFTR's. We have already experimentally proven the viability of our three stage process. Within the decade we will have thorium reactors making power. If we, instead, switch to LFTR's, expect 15 years of research and prototypes followed by another decade of commericial implementation - Just does not make sense., It is better that we carry on with our plans and watch what happens with LFTR's If the technology is proven, which is a minimum of a decade away from now, we can choose to buy the technology or fund research based on open source information available then.
All said and done BARC acknowledges that LFTR's on paper look promising. But so do ADR's, Thermal reactors etc.
There are many paths to a successful Thorium reactor. We just have to start.
Last edited:
My understanding is that the three stage programme requires firstly Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors to produce plutonium for the second stage, where plutonium is needed in fast reactors to produce U233, which is them needed in solid fuel thorium reactors continuously as long as the reactors run.
Correct me if I am wrong, but in a LFTR only a small amount of plutonium would be required as a "seed" material before the entire reactor could be entirely powered forever on purely thorium alone, available abundantly in India in its raw form without any further processing or transmutation in other types of reactors required..
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2009/12/ff_new_nukes/all/1
In this regard the second stage of the programme could be skipped entirely and we could move right now to the third stage fully using almost completely fail safe, highly efficient , high temperature LFTR reactors for hydrogen,urea, desalination purposes etc right now if we pursued the LFTR technology now.
Why do we persist in a painfully slow rollout of fast reactors requiring US uranium in the first stage when we could move much faster to an entriely secure indigenously fuelled thorium future with LFTR?
Last edited:
trackwhack
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2011
- Messages
- 3,757
- Likes
- 2,590
Read my post again, LFTR exists only on paper. Solid fuel reactors exist in the real world. If you have about 10 billion USD to lend BARC, they would be more than happy to start a 25 year cycle of design, prototype and commercialization.
Secondly, India does not have enough uranium and thereby plutonium to start large scale implementation of LFTR's even if it wants to. Plutonium does not come out of thin air. It is a byproduct of uranium reactors. Since you know so much already you must also be aware that only less than 1% of natural uranium is reactor grade. By introducing a breeder reactor into the cycle, we multiply the amount of reactor grade plutonium output by 100 times. Which is what will be used as seed fuel.
Further, the small amount of seed fuel you mention is a few tonnes, not a few grams.
If LFTR's are meant to be, they will. The onus is not on India to drive this research. Its on the richer countries. The three stage program is perfect for us as of now because we know it works.
Also, please post an intro.
Green Car Congress: Indias BARC Developing Two Nuclear Reactor Designs for Hydrogen ProductionRead my post again, LFTR exists only on paper. Solid fuel reactors exist in the real world. If you have about 10 billion USD to lend BARC, they would be more than happy to start a 25 year cycle of design, prototype and commercialization.
Secondly, India does not have enough uranium and thereby plutonium to start large scale implementation of LFTR's even if it wants to. Plutonium does not come out of thin air. It is a byproduct of uranium reactors. Since you know so much already you must also be aware that only less than 1% of natural uranium is reactor grade. By introducing a breeder reactor into the cycle, we multiply the amount of reactor grade plutonium output by 100 times. Which is what will be used as seed fuel.
Further, the small amount of seed fuel you mention is a few tonnes, not a few grams.
If LFTR's are meant to be, they will. The onus is not on India to drive this research. Its on the richer countries. The three stage program is perfect for us as of now because we know it works.
Also, please post an intro.
Apparently,the country is going into development of such molten salt reactors without anyone providing the $10 billion loan. The money seems to be readily available without you or I providing finance.
Does anyone know when the Indian High Temperature Reactor is going into serial production?
What is the advantage of this reactor over a LFTR type reactor and also what are the disadvantages?Apparently this reactor fits into the third stage of the programme.
As for introductions I am a non physicist just curious about what may and may not be possible with different reactor configurations.
trackwhack
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2011
- Messages
- 3,757
- Likes
- 2,590
The IHTR is not the LFTR. It is nothing but a solid fuel reactor that generates hydrogen whcih can possibly replace oil in the future as transportation fuel. The IHTR is small budget research. The only difference between a regular AHWR and IHTR is that AHWR heat transfer is directed to steam turbines generating electricity while IHTR heat is directed to a mechanism that breaks water into Hydrogen and oxygen.
This wont be going into serial production anytime soon. The only thorium reactor that has a go ahead for commercial implemetation is the AHWR.
You speak of nuclear reactors as though they were toys you can buy off the shelf. A new nuclear reactor from conceptualization to design to prototypes to safety features to commercial implementation is a 20 -30 year cycle.
Post an intro in the Intro Forum is what I meant. Anyway welcome.
This wont be going into serial production anytime soon. The only thorium reactor that has a go ahead for commercial implemetation is the AHWR.
You speak of nuclear reactors as though they were toys you can buy off the shelf. A new nuclear reactor from conceptualization to design to prototypes to safety features to commercial implementation is a 20 -30 year cycle.
Post an intro in the Intro Forum is what I meant. Anyway welcome.
What I meant was both IHTR and LFTR are molten salt reactors both requiring a similar level of investment required to bring them into fruition.If $10 billion can be afforded for IHTR and is being spent on IHTR why was this reactor design chosen instead of LFTR or some other molten salt type?
Is there some advantage in heat transfer efficiency? Possibly there is a proliferation advantage? Is it fair to suggest that removal of protactinium and even U233 from the Liquid Fluoride Thorium mixture is easier than with an IHTR solid fuel but liquid cooled reactor?
http://www.osti.gov/energycitations/product.biblio.jsp?query_id=1&page=9&osti_id=4093364
Does anyone know what small budget the IHTR actually has in total till completion?
trackwhack
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jul 20, 2011
- Messages
- 3,757
- Likes
- 2,590
Listen chief, little knowledge is a bad thing. PLease read up, this is the last spoon Im going to feed you. The IHTR is a solid fuel reactor. The coolants will be molten salt or molten metal. The LFTR is a liquid fuelled, liquid cooled reactor. The fuel will be Liquid Thorium Fluoride, which will be both fuel and coolant.
The difference between the two is like chalk and cheese. Just because it says molten salt does not make it a molten salt reactor. If you are really interested, you would have spent time reading about it before posting BS. Adios.
Edit: Incidentally, We already use Liquid Metal cooling for the PFBR, so do others running Breeder Reactors.
Last edited:
LETHALFORCE
Mod
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2009
- Messages
- 29,871
- Likes
- 48,534
Business Line : Industry & Economy News : Tummalapalle uranium mine to be commissioned by April
Tummalapalle uranium mine to be commissioned by April
MUMBAI, FEB. 6:
The Tummalapalle uranium mine located in YSR district of Andhra Pradesh would be commissioned by early April.
The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has estimated uranium reserves of the mine at 1.5 lakh tonnes, which are one of the largest in the world.
The DAE Spokesperson, Mr S.K. Malhotra, said that the mine is ready but the uranium processing plants are still under construction, which will take another two months to complete. The mine is a part of the Kadapa basin and has significant reserves of uranium therefore the DAE is concentrating its energies on this area.
Mine development is also being carried out at Lambapur-Peddagattu in Nalgonda district of the State.
Full fledged exploration for new uranium mines is also under way in the Kadapa basin.
Earlier, major thrust was given to the mines around Jaduguda in Jharkhand but over the years, the uranium ore got depleted. The ore reserves will only last another 10 years therefore new ones have to be developed, Mr Malhotra said.
A senior official of Uranium Corporation of India Ltd told Business Line that about 1.1 million tonnes of ore be would be mined a year from Tummalapalle, which after processing would yield 250 tonnes of yellowcake (uranium oxide). This oxide would be further processed and then fed into the nuclear reactor as fuel, the official said.
The global spot market for the yellowcake is ruling at about $100 a kg, therefore the yearly production from the mine can be valued at about $25 million. Rough calculations suggest that from the yellowcake about 8,888 million units of power can be produced, the official said.
The island-city area of Mumbai, which houses the main business district, consumes about 4,300 million units of power a year. So 8,888 million units can supply power to this area for two years.
The official added that about Rs 1,100 crore have been invested for developing the mine.
For producing the yellowcake an 'alkaline leaching process' has been devised by Uranium Corporation, which would be used for the first time in the mine, the official said.
Tummalapalle uranium mine to be commissioned by April
MUMBAI, FEB. 6:
The Tummalapalle uranium mine located in YSR district of Andhra Pradesh would be commissioned by early April.
The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has estimated uranium reserves of the mine at 1.5 lakh tonnes, which are one of the largest in the world.
The DAE Spokesperson, Mr S.K. Malhotra, said that the mine is ready but the uranium processing plants are still under construction, which will take another two months to complete. The mine is a part of the Kadapa basin and has significant reserves of uranium therefore the DAE is concentrating its energies on this area.
Mine development is also being carried out at Lambapur-Peddagattu in Nalgonda district of the State.
Full fledged exploration for new uranium mines is also under way in the Kadapa basin.
Earlier, major thrust was given to the mines around Jaduguda in Jharkhand but over the years, the uranium ore got depleted. The ore reserves will only last another 10 years therefore new ones have to be developed, Mr Malhotra said.
A senior official of Uranium Corporation of India Ltd told Business Line that about 1.1 million tonnes of ore be would be mined a year from Tummalapalle, which after processing would yield 250 tonnes of yellowcake (uranium oxide). This oxide would be further processed and then fed into the nuclear reactor as fuel, the official said.
The global spot market for the yellowcake is ruling at about $100 a kg, therefore the yearly production from the mine can be valued at about $25 million. Rough calculations suggest that from the yellowcake about 8,888 million units of power can be produced, the official said.
The island-city area of Mumbai, which houses the main business district, consumes about 4,300 million units of power a year. So 8,888 million units can supply power to this area for two years.
The official added that about Rs 1,100 crore have been invested for developing the mine.
For producing the yellowcake an 'alkaline leaching process' has been devised by Uranium Corporation, which would be used for the first time in the mine, the official said.
JAISWAL
Senior Member
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2010
- Messages
- 1,527
- Likes
- 1,027
India will start Thorium-based Advanced Heavy Water Reactor(AHWR,300-MWe) project
India will start Thorium-based Advanced Heavy Water Reactor(AHWR,300-MWe) project in next 18 months
Chennai, Feb. 21:
Tapping its abundant thorium reserves, the Government has decided to commence the construction of 300-MW thorium-based Advanced Heavy Water Reactor in the next 18 months, a senior official said on Tuesday.
"Under the third stage of nuclear programme based on thorium utilisation, a reactor of 300 MW will be constructed in a year and a half from now..," Kalpakkam-based Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research Director, Mr S.C. Chetal, told reporters here.
"The work for that will commence in the next Five-Year Plan," he said on the sidelines of a function.
According to Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), the currently known thorium reserves in India amount to 3,58,000 GWe-yr of electrical energy and can "easily meet the energy requirements during the next century and beyond."
Mr Chetal said, a technology to separate uranium from thorium was being developed by BARC in the third phase of its nuclear programme.
collaborations
India was also having collaboration with France and the US.
"We will have reactors at different parts of the country... at Jaitapur in Maharashtra with the help of the French (1,650 MW) and with US, sites are being identified and target for nuclear energy is 20,000 MW. Today we have 4,780 MW," he said.
Asked whether States were keen to set up nuclear power facilities, he replied in the affirmative.
"In fact, the rush is much from various States which are not able to fulfil (energy) requirements.
For example, we have potential sites at Hisar in Haryana and sites in Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. We have demand from every State."
A large part of construction of India's first Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor at Kalpakkam had been completed. .
"As of last month, 81.5 per cent of the construction is over," Mr Prabhat Kumar, Project Director, Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Ltd, said.
.
.
Business Line : Industry & Economy / Economy : Work on thorium-based reactor to commence soon
India will start Thorium-based Advanced Heavy Water Reactor(AHWR,300-MWe) project in next 18 months
Chennai, Feb. 21:
Tapping its abundant thorium reserves, the Government has decided to commence the construction of 300-MW thorium-based Advanced Heavy Water Reactor in the next 18 months, a senior official said on Tuesday.
"Under the third stage of nuclear programme based on thorium utilisation, a reactor of 300 MW will be constructed in a year and a half from now..," Kalpakkam-based Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research Director, Mr S.C. Chetal, told reporters here.
"The work for that will commence in the next Five-Year Plan," he said on the sidelines of a function.
According to Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), the currently known thorium reserves in India amount to 3,58,000 GWe-yr of electrical energy and can "easily meet the energy requirements during the next century and beyond."
Mr Chetal said, a technology to separate uranium from thorium was being developed by BARC in the third phase of its nuclear programme.
collaborations
India was also having collaboration with France and the US.
"We will have reactors at different parts of the country... at Jaitapur in Maharashtra with the help of the French (1,650 MW) and with US, sites are being identified and target for nuclear energy is 20,000 MW. Today we have 4,780 MW," he said.
Asked whether States were keen to set up nuclear power facilities, he replied in the affirmative.
"In fact, the rush is much from various States which are not able to fulfil (energy) requirements.
For example, we have potential sites at Hisar in Haryana and sites in Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. We have demand from every State."
A large part of construction of India's first Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor at Kalpakkam had been completed. .
"As of last month, 81.5 per cent of the construction is over," Mr Prabhat Kumar, Project Director, Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Ltd, said.
.
.
Business Line : Industry & Economy / Economy : Work on thorium-based reactor to commence soon
nrj
Ambassador
- Joined
- Nov 16, 2009
- Messages
- 9,658
- Likes
- 3,911
DAE to set up three more nuclear fuel complexes
The Department of Atomic Energy plans to set up three more nuclear fuel complexes to meet the requirements arising out of the proposed massive expansion plan to increase the capacity of nuclear power plants to 63,000 MW by 2032, from the current level of 4,780 MW.
Presently, the Department has only one such complex at Hyderabad. It produces fuel bundles and other components for all the 20 reactors in operation in the country.
The first of the three additional plants would come up at Kota in Rajasthan and would be used to supply fuel to the four 700 MW Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors being built at neighbouring Rawatbhata and Kakrapar in Gujarat. The sites for the other two are yet to be finalised.
Disclosing this, Chief Executive Officer of Nuclear Fuel Complex, Hyderabad, R.N. Jayaraj, said the complex at Kota would be ready by 2015-16. It would have a capacity to supply up to 500 tonnes of fuel per year. It would also have a zirconium fabrication facility with a capacity of 65 tonnes per year.
Of the other two new facilities, one would supply fuel to ten 700 MW PHWR reactors being planned in Haryana, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, while the other would be used to meet the fuel requirements of the light water reactors planned to be built with foreign collaboration.
The Hindu : News / National : DAE to set up three more nuclear fuel complexes
The Department of Atomic Energy plans to set up three more nuclear fuel complexes to meet the requirements arising out of the proposed massive expansion plan to increase the capacity of nuclear power plants to 63,000 MW by 2032, from the current level of 4,780 MW.
Presently, the Department has only one such complex at Hyderabad. It produces fuel bundles and other components for all the 20 reactors in operation in the country.
The first of the three additional plants would come up at Kota in Rajasthan and would be used to supply fuel to the four 700 MW Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors being built at neighbouring Rawatbhata and Kakrapar in Gujarat. The sites for the other two are yet to be finalised.
Disclosing this, Chief Executive Officer of Nuclear Fuel Complex, Hyderabad, R.N. Jayaraj, said the complex at Kota would be ready by 2015-16. It would have a capacity to supply up to 500 tonnes of fuel per year. It would also have a zirconium fabrication facility with a capacity of 65 tonnes per year.
Of the other two new facilities, one would supply fuel to ten 700 MW PHWR reactors being planned in Haryana, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh, while the other would be used to meet the fuel requirements of the light water reactors planned to be built with foreign collaboration.
The Hindu : News / National : DAE to set up three more nuclear fuel complexes
