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India’s nuclear leap: Why its fast breeder reactor success matters

India’s nuclear leap: Why its fast breeder reactor success matters

India’s most advanced nuclear reactor has reached a self-sustaining stage that marks a major leap for the country’s atomic energy programme, and takes it a step closer to cutting dependance on uranium. The prototype fast breeder reactor (PBFR) at Kalpakkam in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu reached criticality – the stage at which a nuclear chain reaction can continue on its own – on Monday. Once the reactor becomes fully operational, India will become only the second country after Russia to have a commercial fast breeder reactor. Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called it “a proud moment for India” and “a defining step” in advancing the country’s nuclear programme. “This advanced reactor, capable of producing more fuel than it consumes, reflects the depth of our scientific capability and the strength of our engineering enterprise. It is a decisive step towards harnessing our vast thorium reserves in the third stage of the programme,” he said in a post on X on Monday. So what is a fast breeder reactor, and why does this latest advance matter – for India and the world? Here’s what we know: What is India’s fast breeder reactor all about? A fast breeder reactor is an advanced nuclear reactor that produces more fissile material – fuel that can be used for fission nuclear reactions – than it consumes. India’s fast breeder reactor has been designed and developed by the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR), a key research and development institution under the country’s Department of Atomic Energy. It has a 500 megawatt electrical (MWe) capacity. Advertisement The nuclear reactors that India and most other countries otherwise use are what are known as pressurised heavy water reactors. They use uranium as their fuel, and churn out plutonium as waste. But a fast breeder reactor can then use that ejected plutonium as fuel to set in motion a self-sustaining nuclear reaction. Fast breeder reactors also use uranium as fuel, but need less since they can also consume plutonium. So in effect, the Kalpakkam reactor will need less uranium to generate electricity than heavy water reactors would. That’s why it’s called the second stage of India’s nuclear programme. On Monday, the Indian government said that the reactor is designed to enable “India to extract greater energy from its limited uranium reserves, while paving the way for large-scale deployment of thorium-based reactors.” A March 2024 report by Modi’s office said India’s PFBR “will initially use the Uranium-Plutonium Mixed Oxide (MOX) fuel. The Uranium-238 ‘blanket’ surrounding the fuel core will undergo nuclear transmutation to produce more fuel, thus earning the name ‘Breeder’.” Uranium-238 refers to the most abundant, naturally occurring form of uranium that is only weakly radioactive by itself, but that can capture neutrons to turn into plutonium. “Since it uses the spent fuel from the first stage, [the] FBR [fast breeder reactor] also offers great advantage in terms of significant reduction in nuclear waste generated, thereby avoiding the need for large geological disposal facilities,” the report added. How does a fast breeder reactor work? Paul Norman, a professor of nuclear physics and nuclear energy at the University of Birmingham, told Al Jazeera that – as the Indian prime minister’s office said in its report – fast breeder reactors use both plutonium and uranium. The uranium is converted further into plutonium, too. “One bonus of this type of system is that it can increase nuclear fuel reserves enormously, by in theory making use of ‘all of the uranium’ [via plutonium conversion] rather than just a small part of it,” he said. “The technology can also be tweaked towards thorium systems, and there is meant to be more thorium out there in the earth than uranium, providing a further huge boost in the amount of nuclear fuel,” he explained. Globally, thorium reserves are four-times larger than uranium reserves. And in India, this equation is even more loaded: The country is home to about 1-2 percent of the world’s uranium, but has more than 25 percent of the world’s thorium. Advertisement How do the vast thorium reserves help India? The construction of the PFBR officially began in 2004 after multiple delays. But its importance was highlighted by the country’s scientists much earlier. An October 1996 report written by Indian scientists Shivram Baburao Bhoje and Perumal Chellapandi for the International Atomic Energy Agency said that the fast reactor programme was important in India because of the country’s growing and continuous demand for electricity. India is the world’s third-largest energy guzzler, after China and the United States. With the world’s largest population and a fast-growing economy, India’s energy consumption is only expected to grow further. As the war on Iran, and its impact on global energy prices has demonstrated, a continuing overwhelming dependence on fossil fuels poses a risk to economies like India’s. At the moment, nuclear energy represents only 3 percent of the country’s energy mix, but India wants to raise that dramatically, from 8,180MW in 2024 to 100GW by 2047. That’s where the three-stage nuclear programme and thorium fit in. In the second stage, the fast breeder reactors use uranium and the plutonium waste from heavy water reactors to generate electricity. They also produce more plutonium and a lighter isotope of uranium called uranium-233, which is ready, fissile material that can be used as fuel in third-stage reactors. Those third-stage reactors, once designed, would be thorium-based. They would be fed with thorium – which India has in abundance – and uranium-233. The waste those reactors would produce: also uranium-233, which can be fed back as fuel for the reactors. Once India accomplishes its three-stage process, it would in effect be able to reduce its need for naturally found uranium significantly, and instead use thorium for much of its nuclear energy needs. Why does this matter to the rest of the world? Other countries – including the US, France, UK, Japan and Russia – have worked on fast breeder reactor technology.

From 9pm shutdowns to remote work: Egypt cuts fuel amid power crisis

From 9pm shutdowns to remote work: Egypt cuts fuel amid power crisis

The US-Israel war on Iran has sparked a global fuel crisis as thousands of tankers carrying crucial deliveries of oil and liquefied natural gas (LNG) remain stranded on either side of the Strait of Hormuz, currently under a blockade imposed by Iran. On Saturday, Egypt’s government said it is among the “best-performing” countries in tackling the crisis because of the measures it has implemented to save on fuel. Here is what we know about the steps Egypt is taking and whether other countries are doing the same. Why has the Iran war caused an energy crisis? Pressure on oil and gas markets is mounting due to the almost complete halt to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz as well as air strikes on and around key energy facilities in the Gulf as the United States-Israel war on Iran enters its sixth week. One-fifth of the world’s oil and LNG is shipped from producers in the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz in peacetime. This is the only route from the Gulf to the open ocean. On March 2, two days after the US and Israel began strikes on Iran, Ebrahim Jabari, a senior adviser to the commander in chief of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), announced that the strait was “closed”. If any vessels tried to pass through, he said, the IRGC and the navy would “set those ships ablaze”. Since then, traffic through the strait, carrying cargoes including 20 million barrels of oil each day, has plunged by more than 95 percent. Now, Tehran is allowing just a handful of tankers through after reaching agreements with some countries to do so. Advertisement Besides this, energy infrastructure in the Middle East has suffered damage over the course of the war. On March 24, QatarEnergy declared force majeure on some of ⁠its long-term LNG supply contracts after an Iranian attack on Qatar’s Ras Laffan LNG facility – the largest in the world – wiped out about ⁠17 percent of the country’s LNG export capacity, causing an estimated $20bn in lost annual revenue and threatening supplies to Europe and ⁠Asia. All of this disruption has sent energy prices soaring. On Tuesday, global oil benchmark Brent crude was around $109 per barrel, compared to around $65 per barrel right before the war started. How is Egypt tackling the energy crisis? Egypt’s Petroleum Ministry has announced rises in fuel prices ranging from 14 percent to 30 percent. On March 28, Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly’s office told a press conference that the country’s energy import bill had increased from $1.2bn in January to $2.5bn in March. Egypt is both one of the region’s largest energy importers and among its most heavily indebted economies. While domestic gas and oil account for the majority of its total energy supply, the country still relies on imported fuels, especially refined oil products and some natural gas, from Israel and the Gulf states. Madbouly announced measures Egypt is taking to mitigate this and preserve state energy resources. From March 28, shops, malls and restaurants are closing at 9pm (19:00 GMT) every day for one month, except Thursdays and Fridays. On Thursdays and Fridays, the closing time will be 10pm (20:00 GMT). Fuel allocations for government vehicles will be reduced by 30 percent. Street lighting and street advertisement lighting will be cut by 50 percent. From April 1, eligible employees will work remotely on Sundays, the first day of the working week. Some essential services, such as pharmacies, grocery stores and tourist facilities, will be exempted from this. Which other countries have introduced energy conservation measures? Besides Egypt, other countries are also taking steps to save energy. Last week, Malaysia ordered civil servants to work from home to save energy in government offices. In mid-March, it was revealed that government offices in the Philippines had moved to a four-day work week, officials in Thailand and Vietnam were being encouraged to work from home and limit travel, and Myanmar’s government had imposed alternating driving days. Pakistan, which imports about 80 percent of its energy from the Gulf, announced on Monday of this week that markets and shopping malls would close at 8pm (15:00 GMT) across the country, except in Sindh province. The government’s statement added that food outlets would close at 10pm (17:00 GMT), which is also when marriage ceremonies at private properties and houses must end. Advertisement Bangladesh has reduced working hours for government and private workers and banking services hours in a bid to conserve electricity. In Sri Lanka and Slovenia, authorities have introduced fuel rationing and purchase limits to manage shortages and soaring costs. Adblock test (Why?)

Trump threatens Iran: ‘A whole civilisation will die tonight’

Trump threatens Iran: ‘A whole civilisation will die tonight’

NewsFeed Donald Trump warned that “a whole civilisation will die tonight” if Iran does not open the Strait of Hormuz, ahead of a Tuesday night deadline for Tehran to comply. The comments follow a “pretty shocking” silence from US Congress on the US-Israeli war, Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett explains. Published On 7 Apr 20267 Apr 2026 Click here to share on social media share2 Share googleAdd Al Jazeera on Googleinfo Adblock test (Why?)