Current Affairs
India's Fast Breeder Reactor at Kalpakam Reaches a Key Milestone
India's first Fast Breeder Reactor at Kalpakam in Tamil Nadu has achieved criticality, meaning it has produced a controlled nuclear chain reaction for the first time.
500 MWPlanned electricity generation capacity of the Kalpakam Fast Breeder Reactor
The facts
- 1The Kalpakam Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) is built and operated by Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Limited (BHAVINI), a government company under India's Department of Atomic Energy.
- 2Achieving criticality means the reactor has sustained a controlled chain reaction — a required step before it can generate electricity for the grid.
- 3Fast Breeder Reactors are special because they can produce, or 'breed', more nuclear fuel than they consume by converting thorium and uranium into usable fuel.
- 4India has large reserves of thorium, so fast breeder technology is central to its long-term plan to use thorium as a major energy source.
- 5The PFBR at Kalpakam has a planned electricity generation capacity of 500 megawatts, enough to power hundreds of thousands of homes.
Why it matters
Energy affects everyday life — from the electricity that powers your school to the fuel that runs factories. This reactor is part of India's plan to produce clean nuclear energy using thorium, a fuel India has in large amounts. If it works well, it could help India rely less on coal and imported oil in the future.
Sources
- The Hindu
- Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India
