The Fast Breeder Reactor-600 (FBR-600) or Indian Fast Breeder Reactor (IFBR) or Commercial Fast Breeder Reactor (CFBR) is a 600-MWe
fast breeder
A breeder reactor is a nuclear reactor that generates more fissile material than it consumes. Breeder reactors achieve this because their neutron economy is high enough to create more fissile fuel than they use, by irradiation of a fertile mate ...
nuclear reactor design presently being designed as part of
India's three-stage nuclear power programme
India's three-stage nuclear power programme was formulated by Homi Bhabha, the well-known physicist, in the 1950s to secure the country's long term energy independence, through the use of uranium and thorium reserves found in the monazite sands ...
to commercialise the
Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor
The Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) is a 500 MWe fast breeder nuclear reactor presently being constructed at the Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS) in Kalpakkam, India. The Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) is responsible ...
built at Kalpakkam. The
Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) is responsible for the design of this reactor as a successor for
Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR).
The 1st twin unit would come up within the BHAVINI premises at
Madras Atomic Power Station
Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS) located at Kalpakkam about south of Chennai, India, is a comprehensive nuclear power production, fuel reprocessing, and waste treatment facility that includes plutonium fuel fabrication for fast breeder reac ...
at
Kalpakkam
Kalpakkam is a township in Tamil Nadu, India, situated on the Coromandel Coast 70 kilometres south of Chennai. A conglomerate of two villages (Puduppattinam and Sadurangappatinam) and a DAE township, it is about from Thiruvanmiyur and fro ...
, close to the PFBR site itself.
Designed to "burn" a mixture of uranium oxide and plutonium oxide to generate 600
MWe
The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James Watt ...
of power each, current plans involve building six units, co-locating two at any given place. This arrangement would facilitate cost-rationalisation, using common auxiliaries to serve both reactors.
Design features
According to the research conducted at IGCAR, the improved design concepts indicated significant economic advantages by reducing material inventory by 25%, simplifying fuel handling scheme and by reducing manufacture time with enhanced safety parameters.
Safety features
CFBR designs mentions a new and improved decay heat removal (DHR) system, reactor shutdown system from its predecessor PFBR. Passive safety features include new hydraulically suspended absorber rods (HSAR) which fall into the core under the influence of gravity if coolant flow is lost, and the inclusion of an ultimate shutdown system (USD) which would use pressurized gas to forcefully inject neutron poisons directly into the core to halt re-criticality incidents.
Reactor fleet
See also
*
Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor
The Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) is a 500 MWe fast breeder nuclear reactor presently being constructed at the Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS) in Kalpakkam, India. The Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) is responsible ...
*
India's three-stage nuclear power programme
India's three-stage nuclear power programme was formulated by Homi Bhabha, the well-known physicist, in the 1950s to secure the country's long term energy independence, through the use of uranium and thorium reserves found in the monazite sands ...
*
Advanced heavy-water reactor
The advanced heavy-water reactor (AHWR) or AHWR-300 is the latest Indian design for a next-generation nuclear reactor that burns thorium in its fuel core. It is slated to form the third stage in India's three-stage fuel-cycle plan. This phase ...
*
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre
The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) is India's premier nuclear research facility, headquartered in Trombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It was founded by Homi Jehangir Bhabha as the Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay (AEET) in January 195 ...
*
Fast Breeder Test Reactor
The Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR) is a breeder reactor located at Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, India. The Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research (IGCAR) and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) jointly designed, constructed, and operate the react ...
*
BHAVINI
The Bharatiya Nabhikiya Vidyut Nigam Limited (BHAVINI) is a wholly owned Enterprise of Government of India under the administrative control of the Department of Atomic Energy incorporated on 22 October 2003 as Public Limited Company under the co ...
References
{{Nuclear technology, state=collapsed
Liquid metal fast reactors
Nuclear power in India