| Publication |
2014.
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| Summary/Abstract |
In April, Indian Atomic Energy Commission [AEC] Chairman Dr RK Sinha announced that the design for the thorium-fueled nuclear reactor, known as the Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR), has been completed. The AHWR will form the third and filial stage in India's three-stage fuel-cycle plan. A 300- MW prototype is scheduled to be built in 2016, and it will start generating electricity by 2023. "To generate a single megawatt of electricity from this world's first thorium-based reactor, it would take at least 7-8 years," said Sinha. Thorium, a fissionable fuel, is the second- most available element on earth and abundant in India's coastal sands. No other country has done as much neutron physics work on thorium as have India's nuclear scientists. The positive results they obtained have motivated India's nuclear engineers to use thorium- based fuels in the more advanced reactors that will soon enter the under-construction stage. But while thorium-fueled indigenous nuclear power plants will pave the way for India to produce the sizeable amounts of power it needs in the short term, the country needs to move forward quickly and decisively to set the stage for ushering in hydrogen-fueled nuclear fusion-based power generation as its bread and butter for the future.
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