The Hindu : Front Page : A milestone at Kalpakkam

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 12, 2005

Front Page

Front Page

A milestone at Kalpakkam

By T.S. Subramanian

Uranium-plutonium mixed carbide fuel reprocessed "A real benchmark because nobody has reprocessed carbide fuel. India is the first country to do that."

— Photo: S.R. Raghunathan

Mission accomplished... Anil Kakodkar

KALPAKKAM: The Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) at Kalpakkam, 60 km from Chennai, has reached a major milestone in reprocessing the uranium-plutonium mixed carbide fuel of the Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR), which attained a burn-up of 1,00,000 MW days/tonne.

The significant development took place a week ago. Pure plutonium and pure uranium were recovered from the reprocessing of carbide fuel. The plutonium-rich carbide fuel at such a high burn-up has been reprocessed for the first time in the world.

Reprocessing is a high-level technology because of the high radioactivity and high plutonium associated with the spent fuel. This pure plutonium and uranium can again be used as fuel in the FBTR or the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR), which is under construction at Kalpakkam. The PFBR will start generating 500 MWe from 2010.

`A bold step'

Anil Kakodkar, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, who was here to congratulate the IGCAR scientists and engineers on the successful reprocessing, called it "a very important achievement". He said the carbide fuel used in the FBTR was "an advanced fuel". The decision of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) to use that fuel was "a bold step".

Dr. Kakodkar said, "While there may have been [some] experience at the laboratory-level in irradiating carbide fuel pins at test facilities, FBTR is unique because the entire reactor has been using carbide fuel."

Baldev Raj, Director, IGCAR, called the reprocessing "a real benchmark because nobody has reprocessed carbide fuel. India is the first country to do that." The carbide fuel was more difficult to reprocess than the mixed oxide (MOX) fuel. The United States, Russia, France, the United Kingdom and Japan have reprocessed the oxide fuel [but not the carbide fuel].

The technology of reprocessing the carbide fuel was developed and executed in the Reprocessing Development Laboratory at the IGCAR. An advanced PUREX (plutonium-uranium extraction) process was developed. Several technologies and steps in the process of reprocessing were developed.

Dr. Baldev Raj said, "We developed some unique equipment such as centrifugal extractors, choppers for [cutting the] fuel and dissolution chambers."

While the burn-up of 1,00,000 MW days/tonne was reached two years ago, the reprocessing itself was achieved a week ago. From one tonne of carbide fuel, 1,00,000 MW days of energy has been generated. Or, one gram of fuel would provide enough energy to keep an electric bulb (40/60/80 watts) lighted continuously for three-four years.

On Saturday (June 11), according to Dr. Baldev Raj, the carbide fuel reached a burn-up of 1,48,000 MW days/tonne. The FBTR was generating about five MWe out of its total capacity of 13 MWe. Its performance was good. It generated more than five million units of electricity after reaching criticality in 1985.

"A unique programme"

Dr. Kakodkar called the Indian nuclear power programme "a unique programme, dictated by our own requirements."

It was a three-stage programme. The Fast Breeder Reactors alone had the potential to take the installed capacity of nuclear power to 5,00,00 MWe using modest quantities of uranium. To execute a programme of this magnitude, the DAE was laying special emphasis on technology, research and development.

To strengthen the linkage among these, the Homi Bhabha National Institute was formed. Prime Minister Mammohan Singh made this announcement on June 4 in Mumbai.

The DAE would administer this deemed university. Several research centres and autonomous institutions of the DAE will come under the institute.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Front Page