Overview
- The 500 MWe PFBR, which achieved a self-sustaining chain reaction Monday, now enters a gradual power-up and testing phase under regulatory oversight.
- Built by BHAVINI on the IGCAR campus, the sodium-cooled reactor uses mixed-oxide fuel and a uranium-238 blanket to breed new fissile material.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Atomic Energy Commission chair Ajit Kumar Mohanty praised the milestone as progress toward fuel self-reliance and cleaner baseload power.
- Full operation will follow months of staged commissioning, and India would then join Russia as the only country running a commercial-scale fast breeder reactor.
- The project anchors a closed fuel cycle with reprocessing of spent fuel, and planners are weighing additional breeder units at Kalpakkam after commissioning results.