Fast Breeder Reactor Important for India
I am posting this old interview ( 2004 ) with Dr Anil Kakodkar ( now Ex Director BARC and Ex Atomic Energy Commission Secretary) for benefit of readers and visitors to this thread .....
" Question : How important are the fast-breeder reactors in ensuring India's energy security?
Answer : Fast-breeder reactors are more important to India than to other countries which have capabilities in nuclear power technology. This is because of the nuclear resource profile we have in the country. Our uranium reserves � what we have � as per the present state of exploration will be able to support 10,000 MWe generating capacity, which is not large. But it is the starting point for setting up fast reactors. When the same uranium, which will support 10,000 MWe generating capacity in the PHWRs, comes out as spent fuel and we process that spent fuel into plutonium and residual uranium, and use it in the fast reactors, we will be able to go to electricity capacity which will be as large 5,00,000 MWe. This is due to the breeding potential of the fast reactors, using the plutonium-uranium cycle. That is the importance of the fast-breeder reactors under Indian conditions, compared to other countries.
Question : France, the U.S. and the U.K. have not persisted with their breeder reactors programme. Are we entering an area others have backed out from?
Answer : That is not true. There is a programme called Generation Four Initiative Forum, GIF for short. This is a programme led by the United States in which ten other countries are participating. They have nuclear power reactor configurations that are important for the future. They have identified a total of six configurations, six reactors. Out of that, three or four are fast reactors. So the importance of fast reactors in future energy requirements is recognized well worldwide. In fact, in Russia, an 800 MWe fast reactor is under construction. The ground reality now is that uranium is available at a much cheaper price internationally. In this situation of plenty of uranium availability, there is no urgency for these countries to move on to fast-breeder reactor technology. This, however, is not the case with us. "
Fast-breeder reactors more important for India
Why is there so much shouting in this thread?
May be because you have failed to see the larger picture ....
The implications for our energy security and Nuclear arsenal ....is tremendous !!!
Have not you seen , what our dependence on Petroleum products has done to our economy ?
The picture is going to get worse in another 50 years !!!
