Moving Ahead Towards Sustainable Development-AHWR, an Amicable Approach for Nuclear Reactors

Abstract

AbstractWith a constant urge of digging the unraveled, India has come far ahead in taking an evolutionary step in the field of nuclear science. There has been a recent breakthrough in nuclear reactor advancements. India is using advanced heavy water reactors which function on thorium as one of its fuel components. It can be used in conjunction with plutonium or low enriched uranium. This has been a massive lead as it produces energy at commercial levels and leaves lesser residual actinides having long half-life and inert thorium oxide. This has optimized the energy production rate up to 50% with respect to its production of burnt fuels. This research focuses on bringing an insight on recent advancements in terms of researches and scientific projects that are being conducted in India and how its result would ascent with the current sustainability models such as “Green Chemistry”, a program developed two decades ago in United States and England which defines its requirement for efficient transformation of reagents in obtaining desired results. This revolutionary uplift in nuclear science must reach global acceptance and execution. Considering the ample resources nature earth has bestowed us with, Brazil has remained away from the thorium fueled reactor project studied 50 years ago and there is no light put towards any future research prospects either. Being the second largest reserve of thorium on the entire planet, AHWR can become a mass advantage if explored and taken into deeper accounts.KeywordsAdvanced heavy water reactorLow enriched uraniumThoriumRadioactive waste