An indigenous
design for a
Thorium nuclear reactor, which can produce 600 MWs of power for two years without being replenished, was
unveiled on Thursday by two Indian scientists at an international conference on emerging nuclear energy systems in Brussels (
ICENES 2005).
Designed by scientists (V Jagannathan and Usha Pal) of the
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), the thorium breeder reactor (ATBR) has been claimed to be far more economical and safer than any other in the world. More importantly, the reactor doesn’t need expensive and scarce
Uranium235. Although it would require
Plutonium initially, the reactor will eventually run entirely on Thorium and Uranium-233, the scientists said.
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (Courtesy: Wikipedia)In the paper, the scientists explained that the reactor, while annually consuming 880 kg of Plutonium for energy production from
seed rods, converts 1100 kg of Thorium into fissionable Uranium-233.
Nuclear analysts say that it may be possible for India to obtain Plutonium from friendly countries wanting to dismantle their weapons or dispose of their stockpiled plutonium:):).