First Indian commercial fast breeder reactor nears completion

Loading of dummy fuels is in progress.

India’s Atomic Energy Commission reported that construction of the 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) at Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu is 95% complete.

It said all major equipment at the PFBR have been erected and indigenously developed mixed-oxide type fuel pins for the PFBR’s first core were under manufacture.

“We are now heading towards the final erection, integration and commissioning of the reactor. The reactor will go critical by September 2014,” said Prabhat Kumar, chairman and managing director, Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Ltd.

The Nuclear Fuel Complex, Hyderabad, is manufacturing the reactor’s fuel bundles. These bundles are being assembled at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research at Kalpakkam.