Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) has granted licence for two indigenously developed 700 MW PHWR (Units 3 and 4) at the Kakrapar Atomic Power Station in Gujarat.
About PHWR
- First stage of India’s Three-Stage Nuclear Programme is based on PHWR.
- Fuel & by-product: It uses natural uranium (which is 99.28 percent uranium-238 by concentration) to generate electricity while producing plutonium-239 as a by-product.
- Plutonium-239 will be used create a Uranium-Plutonium Mixed Oxide (MOX) fuel which would subsequently be used as fuel for a Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR).
- FBR will be used in 2nd stage of Nuclear Programme.
- Coolant & Moderator: In it, Heavy water (D₂O) or deuterium is used as both its coolant and neutron moderator.
- Advantages: It uses thin walled pressure tubes instead of large pressure vessels used in pressure vessel type reactors. This ensures that accidental rupture will have a much less severity.
History of PHWR Development
- The programme began in the late 1960s with Rajasthan Atomic Power Station (RAPS-1; 220 MWe) under Indo-Canadian cooperation.
- After Canada withdrew support in 1974 following Pokhran-1, India was forced to develop it indigenously.
- India then developed a standardized 220 MWe indigenous design starting with Narora Atomic Power Station (NAPS) in Uttar Pradesh.
Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB)
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