Thorium Based Indian Nuclear Programme

[Tshering22]

I wish they speed up the Thorium reactor program. Dr. Kalam was the man who firmly believed the program's potential and encouraged it. I wish he was still the president. He and Dr. S. Radhakrishnan are 2 of the best presidents we have had.

On a negative note, I am disappointed to see only one research facility in the east. It'd be excellent if they could fine some valuable stuff in Sikkim and open up one here. Entire east is unexplored. If the government funds researches, I think a lot of stuff can be found.

 

[SpArK]

AMAZING THREAD..nothing less is expected from XINIX..

 

[gogbot]

We have the worlds largest reserves of thorium.Can this thorium be used in nuclear weapons(instead of uranium or plutonium)?

No need to consider that.

We have more than enough Uranium for weapons use.

Capable of building thousand's of warhead's.

But for year on year reactor use, it can be limiting. especially on a large scale.

 

[navtrek]

India unveils 'world's safest nuclear reactor'

India unveiled before the international commuity Thursday its revolutionary design of 'A Thorium Breeder Reactor' that can produce 600 MW of electricity for two years 'with no refuelling and practically no control manoeuvres.'

Designed by scientists of the Mumbai-based Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, the ATBR is claimed to be far more economical and safer than any power reactor in the world.

Most significantly for India, ATBR does not require natural or enriched uranium which the country is finding difficult to import. It uses thorium -- which India has in plenty -- and only requires plutonium as 'seed' to ignite the reactor core initially.

Eventually, the ATBR can run entirely with thorium and fissile uranium-233 bred inside the reactor (or obtained externally by converting fertile thorium into fissile Uranium-233 by neutron bombardment).

BARC scientists V Jagannathan and Usha Pal revealed the ATBR design in their paper presented at the week-long 'international conference on emerging nuclear energy systems' in Brussels. The design has been in the making for over seven years.

According to the scientists, the ATBR while annually consuming 880 kg of plutonium for energy production from 'seed' rods, converts 1,100 kg of thorium into fissionable uranium-233. This diffrential gain in fissile formation makes ATBR a kind of thorium breeder.

The uniqueness of the ATBR design is that there is almost a perfect 'balance' between fissile depletion and production that allows in-bred U-233 to take part in energy generation thereby extending the core life to two years.

This does not happen in the present day power reactors because fissile depletion takes place much faster than production of new fissile ones.

BARC scientists say that "the ATBR with plutonium feed can be regarded as plutonium incinerator and it produces the intrinsically proliferation resistant U-233 for sustenance of the future reactor programme."

They say that long fuel cycle length of two years with no external absorber management or control manoeuvres "does not exist in any operating reactor."

The ATBR annually requires 2.2 tonnes of plutonium as 'seed'. Althouth India has facilities to recover plutonium by reprocessing spent fuel, it requires plutonium for its Fast Breeder Reactor programme as well. Nuclear analysts say that it may be possible for India to obtain plutonium from friendly countries wanting to dismantle their weapons or dispose of their stockpiled plutonium.

World's safest N-reactor by India

 

[Chanakyaa]

Brothers .. There is another excellent choice.

Its TMSR .. Thorium Molten Salt Reactor... I wish we use Two Methods Simultaneously to extract the Thorium Power.

 

[S_O_C_O_M]

No need to consider that.

We have more than enough Uranium for weapons use.

Capable of building thousand's of warhead's.
But for year on year reactor use, it can be limiting. especially on a large scale.

No you do not.

 

[Chanakyaa]

@socom,

Are u aware that india has a dozen PHWRs?

Are u aware the amount of plutonium produced by india each year?

Are U aware India has recetly discovered a huge Uranium Deposit?

Are u aware India has Stakes in Nigerian Mines?

If Not Then Update urself.

 

[satishkumarcsc]

http://www-pub.iaea.org/MTCD/publications/PDF/TE_1450_web.pdf

Try this and you will find out how advanced the Indian research is in thorium based reactors.

http://www.ccnr.org/india_tritium.html

This is another example for the ingenious ways we employ in fusion materials which are now in abundance.

http://www.ecolo.org/documents/documents_in_english/india_military_pluto-05.pdf

This will give you the amount of plutonium stockpiled by India.

 

[SpArK]

why are you guys replying to a "known" troll??

 

[Chanakyaa]

Sorry Benny.. Coulnt help giving the argument....

 

[Capt.Popeye]

@XiNiX
As usual, another admirable thread started by you. Kudos to you. It is important that you are highlighting some great scientific achievements. Nuclear Energy and its application happens to be far more than 'nuclear weapons' (unlike what some of our friends here would like us to believe). IMO, nuclear weapons happen to be the most meaningless and lowest form of application of Nuclear technology. But be that as it may !

 

[Smileplz]

This Thorium can also be used to make nuclear weapons..?

 

[nanmun]

This Thorium can also be used to make nuclear weapons..?

Aim of thorium research was to cater to the electricity needs of the country. If there is a requirement for making nuclear weapons, the spent fuel can be reprocessed to get Pu/Ur (I'm not sure which one we will get).

I would be more than happy, if we can't get any by product that can be used in weapons. In such case, we can lead the world to a more peaceful scenario asking countries to adopt this.

 

[Spring Onion]

South India is rich in Thorium. Some of my Indian friends were saying that Indo-US nuke deal has to do something with Indian thorium. How much is it true or is there any link ??

 

[IndianRobo]

This Thorium can also be used to make nuclear weapons..?

Shakti V : A 0.2 KT experimental device that used U-233, an isotope of uranium not found in nature and produced in India's fast breeder reactors that consume Thorium. This device too was used to collect data.