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India designs World's first Thorium based Nuclear Reactor

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Yeah you were right but atleast i won in that steel thing :devil:
we have to end our dependence on foreign firms ...sooner the better .
we can't develop if we import all and sundry things from other countries ...

But again thanks for digging out this piece of news ....

we are doing it man as we have done it in case of cryogenic engine technology
we used to import steel for our warships but now we are making it in house.
the same in case of submarine, sooner we will be producing steel for submarine too

New special grade steel make from SAIL plant | Business Line

we will have to have patience and invest in the technologies that matters.
 
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Advanced Heavy Water Reactor likely to be functional by 2020
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NEW DELHI: The indigenously-developed Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR) is likely to be functional by 2020, the Lok Sabha was informed today.

Minister of State in PMO Jitendra Singh said the nuclear reactor is being developed indigenously. It is expected to be functional by 2020 or one or two years more thereafter, he said during Question Hour.

The reactor is being developed by Bhaba Atomic Research Centre.

Singh also said the reactor would help in ensuring optimal use of thorium. India has one of the largest sources of thorium resources which is a matter of pride, he said.

"Till October, 2014, AMD has established 2,14,158 tonnes in-situ U3O8 (1,81,606 tonnes uranium) resources and 11.93 million tonnes of in-situ resources of monazite resources, which contains about 1.07 million tonnes of Thorium Oxide (ThO2)," he said.

Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration and Research (AMD) is part of Department of Atomic Energy.

According to the Minister, four districts in Chattisgarh have been identified for possible exploration of uranium.

Besides, the country also has rich sources of monazite. In the current Five Year Plan period (2012-17), the target is to explore 5,000 sq km for radioactive minerals and out of that, about 750 sq km have already been completed.

There has been 25 per cent increase in overall uranium and monazite resources worldwide, including India, over the last ten years.

Under rules of the Atomic Energy Act, every person who discovers uranium or thorium occurring in any place in India should report the same to the central government within three months of discovering it.

Besides for mining of such minerals, entities have to get a licence.

To another query, Singh said no international treaty has been signed for strategic and commercial use of radioactive elements.

"However, there exists bilateral agreements for Civil Nuclear Cooperation with certain countries for peaceful use of nuclear energy," he noted.

Source:- Advanced Heavy Water Reactor likely to be functional by 2020 - The Economic Times
 
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really PAEC-NESCOM-KRL should be working day and night on this one as its safe and even eats up the Radioactive material which makes to environmentally friendly and acts a dustbin for nuclear waste.
 
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Waisee @levina something doesn't feel right if those stats above 'One ton of Thorium can produce same energy as 200 tons of Uranium, or 3,500,000 tons of coal' that one of your compatriots posted are true then I wonder why the rest of the World didn't go for this & India was the first country in the world to have an Operational Thorium Reactor ? :what:

Something is amiss here....something doesn't add up ! :unsure:

I don't know if someone answered that already or not.

It's mainly because when these developments started, at that time India had the largest known reserve of thorium in the World, while India has little Uranium. While the other major power using Uranium as a fuel have already formed NSG, India was not a part of it and also under sanctions by US. So, the Indian scientists tried to find ways to use Thorium as a fuel.

I heard this very interesting story from one of my professors. Thorium is found in monazite sand, which is abundantly found in Trivandrum, India.Back in 1950s India had severe food shortage. Some US senators and a businessman approached India, and offered to provide wheat in exchange of this sand. Nehru, in spite of severe food shortage in the country, had declined.
 
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I don't know if someone answered that already or not.

It's mainly because when these developments started, at that time India had the largest known reserve of thorium in the World, while India has little Uranium. While the other major power using Uranium as a fuel have already formed NSG, India was not a part of it and also under sanctions by US. So, the Indian scientists tried to find ways to use Thorium as a fuel.

I heard this very interesting story from one of my professors. Thorium is found in monazite sand, which is abundantly found in Trivandrum, India.Back in 1950s India had severe food shortage. Some US senators and a businessman approached India, and offered to provide wheat in exchange of this sand. Nehru, in spite of severe food shortage in the country, had declined.
Ease of use. Uranium can be used directly. Thorium isn't fissile. It has to be transmuted to U-233.
 
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Design of World's first Prototype Commercial Thorium based nuclear reactor is ready

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Finally, the wait is over. The design of World's first Thorium based nuclear reactor is ready.

India Today Online brings you the first look of design and prototype of the Advanced Heavy Water Reactor, also termed as AHWR.

It is the latest Indian design for a next-generation nuclear reactor that will burn thorium as its fuel ore.

The design is being developed at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), in Mumbai, India and aims to meet the objectives of using thorium fuel cycles for commercial power generation.

The AHWR is a vertical pressure tube type reactor cooled by boiling light water under natural circulation. The unique feature of this design is a large tank of water on top of the primary containment of vessel, called the gravity-driven water pool (GDWP). This reservoir is designed to perform several passive safety functions.

Dr R K Sinha, chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, in an exclusive interview to India Today Online said, "This reactor could function without an operator for 120 days."

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The AHWR is a unit that will be fueled by a mix of uranium-233 and plutonium - which will be converted from thorium by previously deployed and domestically designed fast breeder reactors.

Thorium is an element that is three times more abundant globally than uranium. As all mined thorium is potentially usable to breed reactor fuel. India's abundant reserves of thorium, constitute 25 per cent of the world's total reserves.

Earlier, India produced the world's first thorium nuclear reactor, the Kakrapar-1, in 1993, and as part of India's three-stage fuel cycle plan, a new Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR) is being designed, slated for operation in 2016. The country hopes to use thorium-based reactors to meet 30 per cent of its electricity demands by 2050.

The AHWR is slated to form the third stage in India's three-stag fuel-cycle plan. It is supposed to be built starting with a 300 MW prototype in 2016. Later, the first megawatt of electricity would be be generated by 2025. "To generate a single megawatt of electricity from this world's first thorium based reactor it would take at least 7-8 years," said Dr Sinha.

Dr Sinha said, "This will reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, mostly imported, and will be a major contribution to global efforts to combat climate change."

It is also said to be the most secured and safest reactor, which in future, could be set up in populated cities, like - Mumbai or Delhi, "within the city".

The latest AHWR design incorporates several passive safety features. These include: Core heat removal through natural circulation; direct injection of emergency core coolant system (ECCS) water in fuel; and the availability of a large inventory of borated water in overhead gravity-driven water pool (GDWP) to facilitate sustenance of core decay heat removal. The emergency core cooling system (ECCS) injection and containment cooling can act (SCRAM) without invoking any active systems or operator action.

The reactor also incorporates advanced technologies, together with several proven positive features of Indian pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWRs). These features include pressure tube type design, low pressure moderator, on-power refueling, diverse fast acting shut-down systems, and availability of a large low temperature heat sink around the reactor core.

The construction on the first AHWR is scheduled to start in 2016 - though no site has yet been announced. Sources says, "nothing has decided, it could be Tarapur in Mumbai or some other location in India".

Source:- Design of World's first Thorium based nuclear reactor is ready : North, News - India Today

@levina Something that might interest you di :tup:

Sir, what is current status of the reactor?
 
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Liquid fluoride thorium reactors are designed to be meltdown proof. A plug at the bottom of the reactor melts in the event of a power failure or if temperatures exceed a set limit, draining the fuel into an underground tank for safe storage

AHWR is no MSR,bro !!
 
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AHWR is no MSR,bro !!

I know.
But I want India to commence molten salt type to be on the safer side.
India is stuck with Heavy water moderated types since long time.
They started with Candu/canada design.
From there they came to AHWR, and still there.
 
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