Having overcome multiple challenges, fuel loading at India's first prototype fast-breeder reactor in Tamil Nadu's Kalpakkam is expected to start next week. Nuclear scientists, working on the sodium-cooled 500 MWe reactor, had encountered some problems.
"Early next week we will start loading the fuel. Last time, after the prime minister inaugurated it, we could not load the fuel as we encountered some technical problems. We have solved them now," a senior official said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had witnessed the core loading at the facility in March last year.
Once operationalised, the 500 MWe Fast Breeder Reactor will be only the second of its kind in the world.
Russia operates the other fast breeder reactor of 800 MWe.
A few other countries had tried mastering the complex technology, but had given up.
"We encountered multiple problems, there were a few surprises as we are operationalising a sodium-cooled reactor at this scale for the first time," the official said.
The commissioning of the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) will mark the second stage of India's three-stage nuclear programme that aims to recycle spent fuel to reduce the inventory of radioactive waste. -- PTI
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