The Hindu : National : Apsara reactor not to be shifted

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 13, 2006

National

National

Apsara reactor not to be shifted

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: The entire Apsara reactor at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Trombay, will not be shifted out of BARC but only its small imported fuel core will be shifted out and put under safeguards, according to S. Banerjee, Director, BARC.

The Apsara is a swimming-pool reactor with its fuel core hanging in a large pool of water.

How could one shift the entire reactor with its swimming pool, Dr. Banerjee asked. The Apsara reactor would continue to be located at BARC but would operate with indigenous fuel of enriched uranium. It would not come under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards, he said.

According to India's plans to separate its civilian nuclear facilities from their military counterparts, the fuel core of Apsara reactor was purchased from France and that India would shift it from its present location at the BARC and put it under safeguards in 2010. This step was being taken to keep the BARC out of intrusive inspections.

Dr. Banerjee clarified at a press conference at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research at Kalpakkam, near here, that what would be shifted would be the small imported fuel core from the Apsara.

The Apsara was the first research reactor to be built in India. It became critical on August 4, 1956. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru named it Apsara. Although the fuel was imported from France, the reactor indigenously built.

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