India’s three-stage nuclear power programme – Knowledge and References

India's three-stage nuclear power programme

India's three-stage nuclear power programme is a long-term plan that involves the use of three different types of reactors to produce energy. The first stage involves uranium-fueled heavy water reactors (HWRs) that produce plutonium. The second stage involves using the plutonium to create thorium-plutonium fuel for sodium-cooled fast reactors, which are then reprocessed to recover materials. The third and final stage involves using the recovered materials to create 232Th/233U fuel for advanced HWRs. This programme is necessary because India has abundant thorium reserves but little uranium, and the use of a thorium fuel cycle in the third stage is a key feature of the programme.From: Environmental Control in Thermal Power Plants [2021], Applications for Thorium in Multistage Fuel Cycles with Heavy Water Reactors [2018]

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Published in T.M. Aggarwal, Environmental Control in Thermal Power Plants, 2021

T.M. Aggarwal

Another alternative to fast breeders is thermal breeder reactors that use uranium-233 bred from thorium as fission fuel in the thorium fuel cycle. Thorium is about 3.5 times more common than uranium in the Earth’s crust, and has different geographic characteristics. This would extend the total practical fissionable resource base by 450%. India’s three-stage nuclear power programme features the use of a thorium fuel cycle in the third stage, as it has abundant thorium reserves but little uranium.

Applications for Thorium in Multistage Fuel Cycles with Heavy Water Reactors

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Published in Nuclear Technology, 2018

Timothy Ault, Steven Krahn, Andrew Worrall, Allen Croff

India has pursued thorium fuel cycle options over the course of several decades. Much of the work has supported a long-term vision of India’s Three-Stage Nuclear Power Programme, which features (1) uranium-fueled HWRs to produce plutonium, which is used to make (2) thorium-plutonium fuel for sodium-cooled fast reactors, which is reprocessed to recover materials in order to make (3) 232Th/233U fuel for advanced HWRs (Refs. 24 and 25). India currently operates Stage 1 HWRs with NU fuel; research related to the second and third stages has progressed in parallel, with continued studies on the use of thorium-based fuels in HWRs (Ref. 26) and on the anticipated operations of a Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (nearing the end of construction).27

India's three-stage nuclear power programme

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Applications for Thorium in Multistage Fuel Cycles with Heavy Water Reactors