T.S. Subramanian reports that the 500-MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) at Kalpakkam is getting ready to be commissioned in September. When the reactor goes critical, it will signal the Indian triumphant entry into the second stage of its three-stage nuclear power program.
The PFBR will use plutonium-uranium oxide as fuel and 1,750 tonnes of liquid sodium as coolant. It is called a breeder reactor because it breeds more fuel than it consumes. We are committed to making the PFBR attain criticality in September, said P. Chellapandi, chairman and managing director, Bharatiya Nabikhiya Vidyut Nigam Limited, a public sector undertaking of the Department of Atomic Energy, tasked with building breeder reactors.
The PFBR construction had been completed and equipment energized. We are awaiting clearance from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) for sodium charging, fuel loading, reactor criticality and then stepping up power generation, Dr. Chellapandi said. The AERB had sent several safety committees to the PFBR for inspection of design compliance and component specifications. Dr. Chellapandi said that they have kept the sodium frozen in 10 big tanks.
All heat transport systems, comprising the pipelines, the heat exchanger components and tanks, have been filled with pure argon to avoid any chemical reaction with sodium and oxygen. They have to melt the sodium and pump it into the reactor circuits, at the appropriate time. Later, the AERB will give clearance for loading the fuel.
In the first stage of the nuclear power program, a fleet of Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors, running on natural uranium, had been built. In the second stage, a series of breeder reactors will come online. Reactors running on thorium will form the third stage of their operations.
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