World’s longest periscope developed for Fast Breeder Reactor

[Kinetic]

Here every one is making a mistake.This PFBR is not going to use Th.The reactor core will be built with reactor grade Pu(65% enriched with Pu 239)obtained from the spent fuel of the pressurised heavy water reactors.While the blankets around the core(both radial and axial)will be built from U 238 which will take a neutron and will be converted into Pu 239.This will be weapon grade Pu(95% enriched with Pu239).Then this Pu will be used to set up new reactors.According to Alexander Glacer and MV Ramana the Kalpakkam facility if run with a modest 70% efficacy can produce upto 150 kg of weapons grade Pu per year.That's why India did not allow the FBRs to international safeguards.There are plans to construct a total of 6 FBRs of 500 mW capacity by 2022 before moving to larger 1000 mW FBRs. urised heavy water reactors.While the blankets around the core(both radial and axial)will be built from U 238 which will take a neutron and will be converted into Pu 239.This will be weapon grade Pu(95% enriched with Pu239).Then this Pu will be used to set up new reactors.According to Alexander Glacer and MV Ramana the Kalpakkam facility if run with a modest 70% efficacy can produce upto 150 kg of weapons grade Pu per year.That's why India did not allow the FBRs to international safeguards.There are plans to construct a total of 6 FBRs of 500 mW capacity by 2022 before moving to larger 1000 mW FBRs.

Well explained sir. Welcome to the forum.


But are not the U/Pu production per reactor is low?

 

[Kinetic]

Who told you our reactor tech is inferior to chinese ones????????????????That's just a pure BS.......................

Although our scientists are putting a lot of efforts, the design is not as secure as the western/chinese designs. Thats why they are still called the prototype reactors.

That is not true. One of the major feature of Indian FBR is high safety features. And that is not the meaning of 'prototype'.


Must read....




Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor ‘has independent safety mechanisms'

T. S. Subramanian
The Hindu


The 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) uder construction at Kalpakkam. The PFBR will be commissioned in 2012. Photo: S.R. Raghunathan


The Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR), under construction at Kalpakkam, near Chennai, is “a unique reactor” which does not require water for emergency cooling of its nuclear fuel core in the case of an accident, said Baldev Raj, who laid down office on Saturday as Director, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) at Kalpakkam. The 500 MWe PFBR will be commissioned in 2012.

(The PFBR will use plutonium-uranium oxide as fuel, and liquid sodium as coolant. If sodium comes into contact with water, it will catch fire. At Fukushima in Japan in March, four reactors' nuclear fuel core could not be cooled because the station suffered a black-out after the tsunami, which also knocked out the pumps and the diesel generator sets. So water could not be pumped for cooling the fuel core.)

As the PFBR boasted a number of redundancy systems and independent mechanisms, the reactor would be shut down with minimum problems in the case of any event, Dr. Baldev Raj told a news conference at Kalpakkam. It had nine control and safety rods, and three diverse safety rods which would help in shutting it down quickly.

S.C. Chetal, who took over as IGCAR Director, explained that in the case of sodium fire in an open place, sodium bicarbonate — a dry chemical powder — would be used to douse the fire. If sodium caught fire in an enclosed place, nitrogen would be injected to extinguish it. Sodium fire was milder than oil catching fire, Mr. Chetal said.

The floor level of all equipment related to the PFBR's emergency core cooling had been raised after the tsunami of December 2004 struck the PFBR's foundation pit, Dr. Baldev Raj said. Seismic activity all over the country was monitored from Kalpakkam round the clock. “We don't wait for the national alert,” he said. A tsunami protection wall had been built on the shore at the site and the township. Besides the PFBR, two Commercial Fast Breeder Reactors (CFBRs) of 500 MWe each would be built at Kalpakkam and their construction would begin in 2017. The layout of the two CFBRs was finalised and their site was getting readied.

Mr. Chetal said that while the 2004 tsunami wave had a height of 4.7 metres above the mean sea level (MSL) at Kalpakkam, the PFBR's floor level was 9.5 metres above the MSL. “There is no chance of sea water entering the PFBR buildings,” he added. The PFBR personnel had been trained in handling the combustible liquid sodium. There was no leakage of sodium for the past 14 years in the Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR) at Kalpakkam, which was a forerunner to the PFBR. Although 75 kg of sodium was spilled in the FBTR prior to that, there was no fire, Mr. Chetal said.

Prabhat Kumar, Project Director, PFBR, said the total investment in the PFBR would be around Rs.560 crore. The cost of construction for a MWe was around Rs.11 crore. The cost was “naturally higher” compared to other electricity generating plants because all the PFBR equipment were manufactured for the first time in India. Electricity from the PFBR would be sold to State Electricity Boards at Rs.4.44 a unit. Mr. Kumar called the PFBR “a robust reactor” and various lessons learnt from the 2004 tsunami had been factored into its construction. The PFBR had a passive heat decay removal system.

Review of safety

After the Fukushima accident, two committees reviewed the safety at the Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS) at Kalpakkam. Mobile power generation sets had been procured. According to K. Ramamurthy, MAPS Station Director, MAPS' emergency core cooling equipment was relocated to a higher level after the 2004 tsunami.

If power generating plants were set up on inland sites, thermal pollution would be more because the decay heat would have to be conducted into nearby water bodies, said P. Chellapandi, Director, Nuclear and Safety Group, IGCAR.

The Hindu : Sci-Tech / Technology : Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor ‘has independent safety mechanisms'

 

[Kinetic]

Can you please make your question more clear?????????

THANX...........

According to Alexander Glacer and MV Ramana the Kalpakkam facility if run with a modest 70% efficacy can produce upto 150 kg of weapons grade Pu per year.

1) Is the 150 kg Pu per 500 MW is low? or the main by-product is U-233 and Pu is secondary?

ere every one is making a mistake.This PFBR is not going to use Th.

2) Is there no uses of Th in FBR? Because I read it many times that "FBRs using plutonium based fuel, would be used to produce uranium-233 from thorium-232."

 

[Safriz]

ok...so if its a Plutonium breeding reactor...Pretty much a potential catalyst of a nuclear arms race in south asia...as both Pakistan and china will feel threatened and match the numbers.

 

[Kinetic]

ok...so if its a Plutonium breeding reactor...Pretty much a potential catalyst of a nuclear arms race in south asia...as both Pakistan and china will feel threatened and match the numbers.

If we want we can make much more nukes but that is not the case. This is for power generation. We know nuclear weapons does not win a war but conventional weapons are, which can be used during the war.


One nuclear submarine is more potent weapon than 100 nuclear bombs.

 

[Safriz]

If we want we can make much more nukes but that is not the case. This is for power generation. We know nuclear weapons does not win a war but conventional weapons are, which can be used during the war.


One nuclear submarine is more potent weapon than 100 nuclear bombs.

so not purely a civilian program anyway....looks like more of a military weapons program under the cloak of power production.....
A thorium - uranium fuel cycle would have prevented this....But since india is wilingly going for plutonium cucle....the intentions are dubiuos

 

[HZR2011]

Yeah,absolutely right.The CIRUS was active from early 60's to 2010 and produced 15 kg of weapons grade Pu per year-that gives a rough estimate of 550- 600 kg of weapons grade Pu at a conservative estimate.The Dhruva reactor can produce 30 kg of weapons grade Pu per year and is active from 1984,so by 2010 it should have produced 780 kg of weapons grade Pu but for sake of debate lets assume it has produced 600 kg.So by the most conservative estimate,India should have atleast 1 ton weapon grade Pu;enough to make 200 fission warheads each with 30 kt yeld assuming 5 kg Pu for every warhead.Besides,there is also 8-10 ton of unsafeguarded separated reactor grade Pu,enough to make 800-1000 warheads with 10 kg Pu per weapon.But we have only 100 or so warheads which proves that we are not trying to increase our nuclear arsenal even though we have all the necessary components.

So thorium reactor can produced 150Kg of weapons grade plutonium where as a normal uranium reactor can produce just 15-30 kg per year....???

If this is truth...well then someone will lose the race in just few months of the thorium reactor up n running

 

[HZR2011]

so not purely a civilian program anyway....looks like more of a military weapons program under the cloak of power production.....
A thorium - uranium fuel cycle would have prevented this....But since india is wilingly going for plutonium cucle....the intentions are dubiuos

Soo early u created a conspiracy n propoganda...

Please let it the reactor atleast start its operations

 

[Night_Raven]

ISI should do their job now.....
Thorium reactors are much needed in Pakistan.

Seriously , kabhi yeh nahin bola ki we should try and make it ourselves. Rather steal , copy : stuff that what you are good at naturally.

Why am I not surprised ? Speaks of your emotionally bankrupt attitude !

@ Topic: India has the world's largest reserves of Thorium. And this is the right direction to harness and produce nuclear power from Thorium.

 

[peep]

Who told you our reactor tech is inferior to chinese ones????????????????That's just a pure BS.......................

That is not true. One of the major feature of Indian FBR is high safety features. And that is not the meaning of 'prototype'.


Must read....

I think I didn't make myself clear. What I meant was, some other countries( I think UKRAINE but not sure) were also working on similar kind of design on which we are working on. They had several cases of leakage of molten salt etc.. They couldn't rectify and project costs were escalating and furthur funds were suspended.

I am not talking of chances of a melt down or radioactive leakage here. What I meant was that our design has more scope of maturing.

Also if u search on google, u ppl will find small instances of such happenings with our FBRs also.

 

[Safriz]

Seriously , kabhi yeh nahin bola ki we should try and make it ourselves. Rather steal , copy : stuff that what you are good at naturally.

Why am I not surprised ? Speaks of your emotionally bankrupt attitude !

@ Topic: India has the world's largest reserves of Thorium. And this is the right direction to harness and produce nuclear power from Thorium.

copy/pasre saves time and money

 

[IndianArmy]

copy/pasre saves time and money

But it saves only Time and money nothing else... Cultivating domestic technology is a dominating factor. Ctrl C,Ctrl V is easy DUDE!

 

[Kinetic]

What I meant was that our design has more scope of maturing.

What systems are you talking? I think after the test rector running for last 26 years we have got enough experience.

---------- Post added at 08:11 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:10 AM ----------

copy/pasre saves time and money

Than no country would have developed anything by their own, everyone might trying to steal from others. lol

Indian atomic research has come a long way..... visit the thread...

http://www.defence.pk/forums/india-...path-indian-nuclear-program-milestones-2.html

India's civilian nuclear R&D initiatives....

Department of Atomic Energy
Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), India

Research and Development Sector
Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC)
Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR)
Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre(VECC)
Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology (RRCAT)
Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research (AMD)

Power Sector
Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL)
Bhartiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Ltd

Industries and Mining Sector
Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC)
Heavy Water Board (HWB)
Board of Radiation and Isotope Techology (BRIT)

Public Sector Units
Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL)
Electronics Corporation of India Ltd (ECIL)
Indian Rare Earths Ltd (IREL)

Aided Institutions and Other Organizations of DAE
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR)
Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics
Tata Memorial Centre
Harish-Chandra Research Institute
Institute of Physics
Institute of Mathematical Sciences
Institute of Plasma Research
Facilitation Centre for Industrial Plasma technologies
Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences (BRNS)
National Board for Higher Mathematics (NBHM)
Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI)

Service Organizations
Directorate of Construction & Estate Management
Directorate of Purchase and Stores

Other Links
Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB)
Administrative Training Institute, DAE

Also note these.... India is a partner in international thermonuclear power project ITER, India also has contribution to the many projects at CERN. We have many successful JV with US labs.


U.S. Department of Energy and India partner to Advance Accelerator and Particle Detector R&D
July 26, 2011 | New Delhi

http://newdelhi.usembassy.gov/pr072611.html

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced that it signed an agreement with the Indian Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) to help advance scientific discovery in the field of accelerator and particle detector research. The agreement builds on a long history of successful scientific collaborations between the U.S. and India and will leverage scientific, technical, and engineering expertise to facilitate basic science research and development (R&D) between the two Departments. U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman and Dr. Srikumar Banerjee, the Chairman of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission, signed the agreement on the sidelines of the U.S.-India Strategic Dialogue in New Delhi last week.

"This agreement is the latest step in the deepening cooperation between the U.S. and India on a range of clean energy and scientific fronts," said Deputy Secretary Poneman. "Working together, we will be able to further our collective understanding of accelerators and high-energy particles, pursue new technologies and scientific discoveries, and advance our shared clean energy goals."

The new agreement provides DOE and DAE with a legal framework to expand upon ongoing collaborations and launch new joint projects in high energy physics and nuclear physics for discovery science and technological innovation. The agreement specifically aims to expand research collaborations in superconducting radiofrequency accelerator technology, heavy ion physics, and particle detector development at DOE's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility, and Brookhaven National Laboratory.

Past accelerator R&D collaborations between the U.S. and India have already resulted in important scientific advances, including the successful search and discovery of the top quark, a fundamental constituent of matter, at Fermi National Laboratory in Illinois. Additionally, joint R&D efforts contributed to the identification of a new form of matter, a quark-gluon plasma, at Brookhaven National Laboratory's Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider. The quark-gluon plasma is thought to have existed a mere instant after the birth of the universe and have a temperature of around 4 trillion degrees Celsius -- the hottest temperature ever reached in a laboratory.

In the U.S., DOE's Office of Science will be responsible for overseeing implementation of the agreement. For more information on high energy and nuclear physics research supported by DOE, visit the Office of Science website.

 

[gulte]

copy/pasre saves time and money

Don't worry, it won't happen since blue prints of design are the least one would want to know and i am sure they are spread all over India as different departments involved in this project. Secondly, the manufacturing of reactors is so complex that Pakistan won't be having industrial base even after 20 years from now.