The 500 MWe sodium-cooled Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) is located at Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu.
- It is India’s first indigenous PFBR.
- It is commissioned by Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Limited (BHAVINI), a Government Company under administrative control of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE).
About First Approach to Criticality
- Criticality refers to the initial process of bringing a reactor to a self-sustaining chain reaction for the first time.
- The completion of core loading will effectively mark the first approach to ‘criticality’.
- Core loading is the process of placing nuclear fuel assemblies inside the core of a nuclear reactor.
What is a Fast Breeder Reactor?
- FBR is a nuclear reactor that uses fast neutrons to generate more nuclear fuel than they consume while generating power.
- FBR will use Uranium-Plutonium Mixed Oxide (MOX) fuel.
- The Uranium-238 “blanket” surrounding the fuel core will undergo nuclear transmutation (conversion of one element to another) to produce more fuel, which is why they are termed "breeders."
- Significance
- The operationalisation of PFBR will mark the start of stage II of India’s three-stage nuclear power programme.
- By transmutation, Thorium will create fissile U-233 which will be used as fuel in the third stage.
Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB)
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