India's Thorium cycle catches world's eye post Japanese nuke disaster

[Vasily Zaytsev]

Thorium catches world's eye post Japanese nuke disaster - CNBC-TV18 -




India's development of thorium for nuclear power generation caught world interest in the light of the blasts at Japan's nuclear power stations. CNBC-TV18’s Sanjay Suri and Anup Gomen report.

India is considered as the world leader in thorium. The Kakrapar-1 reactor located near Surat in Gujarat is the world's first reactor which uses thorium than depleted uranium for vital power generation. Compated to uranium, thorium has less fissile. The nuclear physicists are now looking at thorium as the safer model.

Ian Hore-Lacy from World Nuclear Association said, "India is the only country in the world that develops thorium fuel cycle. The expertise in India is world class and it is applied very rigorously to the safety of nuclear plants in India."

India has about 25% of the world's thorium reserves and is keen to tap thorium for the growing needs of its population," Hore-Lacy added.

Paddy Regan, Professor of Nuclear Physics from University of Surrey said, “India has a population of a billion people and has massive reserves of thorium. India's nuclear programme, based on the thorium cycle, is slightly different. Indian model thorium based reactors seem to be a very sensible way to go."

Pioneering Indian technology using thorium rather than uranium generated new interest around the world. Thorium is considered less efficient but certainly is much safer. In the light of what has happened in Japan, critics are less inclined to dismiss thorium than they were before.

 

[Paan Singh]

can thorium be used for nukes etc??
or only uranium

 

[acetophenol]

yahoo! News of the day!

 

[kingkobra]

then why are we considered about uranium imports?
why dont we use only thorium in all our N-plants?

 

[kingkobra]

This is what i got from wiki

India's Kakrapar-1 reactor is the world's first reactor which uses thorium rather than depleted uranium to achieve power flattening across the reactor core.[32] India, which has about 25% of the world's thorium reserves, is developing a 300 MW prototype of a thorium-based Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR). The prototype is expected to be fully operational by 2011, following which five more reactors will be constructed.[33] Considered to be a global leader in thorium-based fuel, India's new thorium reactor is a fast-breeder reactor and uses a plutonium core rather than an accelerator to produce neutrons. As accelerator-based systems can operate at sub-criticality they could be developed too, but that would require more research.[34] India currently envisages meeting 30% of its electricity demand through thorium-based reactors by 2050.[35]

Thorium - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Vinod2070]

There is still some time before this technology can be scaled.

I hope we take it at the highest priority. This is absolutely necessary for India's energy security.

 

[justanobserver]

Thorium, the silver bullet

Cleaner than Uranium plus we have reserves that'll last for a thousand years !

then why are we considered about uranium imports?
why dont we use only thorium in all our N-plants?

Because, a commercial viable plant using the thorium fuel cycle hasn't been built yet. A 500MW FBR was is supposed to come up by this year's end (but that is still stage two of our 3 stage nuclear program)

Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[gulte]

From what i heard, the problem with India's thorium cycle is if misused nuclear proliferation will become rampant. Our breeder reactor designs produce 3 times more fissile plutonium that it consumes, which in turn will be used in another cycle. This is main reason India is unwilling to provide technology for other countries. We should wait for thorium-uranium molten salt reactor designs to get matured.

 

[Trichy]

Congrats! And we need more research in this field. Can the GoI take steps?

 

[Skull and Bones]

Good news indeed!
Looks like there's whole lot of energy for the tapping in the near future.

 

[angeldemon_007]

From what i heard, the problem with India's thorium cycle is if misused nuclear proliferation will become rampant. Our breeder reactor designs produce 3 times more fissile plutonium that it consumes, which in turn will be used in another cycle. This is main reason India is unwilling to provide technology for other countries. We should wait for thorium-uranium molten salt reactor designs to get matured.

If thats true, then these reactors will be more of a nuke factory rather than a nuclear power plant. Its better we keep this away from others in the global interest. Do you have any source for all this ??

There is still some time before this technology can be scaled.

I hope we take it at the highest priority. This is absolutely necessary for India's energy security.

Actually it is. Building of thorium based nuclear reactor is actually the highest priority in our civil nuclear research program. We have a JV with Russia also.

 

[perplexed]

India's nuclear gurus like Homi Bhabha had envisioned a 3 stage nuclear program for Power generation in INDIA.
Stage 1 :
Consists of using uranium for power generation.

Stage 2:
Consists of perfecting Fast breeder reactor technology to produce more plutonium than consumed.

Stage3:
The matured technology of FBRs will be used to sustain a feasible reaction involving our large thorium232 deposits.

India had consistently focused its research on latter 2 stages. Thats why some of the nuclear reactors were not placed under IAEA safeguards. India is now in forefront of developing Breeder reactors and using thorium cycle for power generation. The Kakrapar-1 prototype reactor is due to the tireless research by our scientists for the last 4 decades.

INDIA always believed in using Th232 for power generation because of its merits mentioned above and also because INDIA has roughly 30 % of world's thorium deposits mostly concentrated in rajasthan region .

HATS OFF to our scientists.

 

[Firemaster]

not in rajasthan but in kerala

 

[gulte]

If thats true, then these reactors will be more of a nuke factory rather than a nuclear power plant. Its better we keep this away from others in the global interest. Do you have any source for all this ??


Actually it is. Building of thorium based nuclear reactor is actually the highest priority in our civil nuclear research program. We have a JV with Russia also.

Just gone through the video again on FBR again, it actually produces 30% (not 300%) more plutonium than it consumes in one cycle which means the initial amount of plutonium will get doubled in 8 years.

 

[Humanist]

Great !! Future is bright...