Design of 500 MWe Metal Fuel Demonstration Fast Reactor

Abstract

Indian nuclear power programme is being implemented in three stages taking in to consideration limited uranium resources and vast thorium resources in the country. The first stage consists of investing natural uranium in Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR). This stage has the potential of 10 GWe. The second stage involves large scale deployment of Fast Breeder Reactors (FBR) with co-located fuel cycle facilities to utilize the plutonium and depleted uranium extracted from the PHWR spent fuel. This stage has a potential of about 300 GWe. In the third stage, effective utilization of the vast thorium resources is planned. Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) instituted in 1971 at Kalpakkam, is involved in the mission of developing the technology of FBR. A host of multidisciplinary laboratories are established in the centre around the central facility of the 40 MWt Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR). Presently, the construction of indigenously designed MOX fueled 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) that started in 2003 is in advanced stage and commissioning activities are underway. The design of PFBR incorporates several state-of-art features and is foreseen as an industrial scale techno-economic viability demonstrator for the FBR program. Beyond PFBR, the proposal is to build one twin unit having two reactors, with each of improved design compared to PFBR, to be commissioned by 2025. Subsequently, towards rapid realization of nuclear power, the department is planning a series of metal fueled FBRs starting with a 500 MWe Metal fuel Demonstration Fast Breeder Reactor (MDFR-500) to be followed by industrial scale 1000 MWe metal fueled reactors. The paper discusses in detail the above aspects and highlights the activities carried out towards designing MDFR.