Nuclear power programme

Prelims and Mains

The Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor at Kalpakkam is a 500 MWe sodium cooled fast reactor, about 90 per cent Indian built, run by BHAVINI.

• It burns mixed oxide fuel of uranium and plutonium with no moderator.
• A blanket of uranium 238 around the core absorbs neutrons to become plutonium 239, more than the core consumes.
• Liquid sodium carries heat well but is opaque, so the reactor is inspected by ultrasonic imaging and robots rather than by eye.
• It reached first criticality on 6 April 2026, about two decades late, and opens Stage 2 of the programme.

Prelims and Mains

The Nuclear Energy Mission, announced in the 2025 to 2026 Budget with Rs 20,000 crore, sets the target of 100 GWe of nuclear capacity by 2047, more than ten times what runs today.

• About half is to come from indigenous pressurised heavy water reactors, a fleet heading toward 50 to 60 GW.
• The rest is to come from imported large reactors, small modular reactors and fast breeders.
• The SHANTI Act is its legal half, because the capital has to come from private and foreign investors and the liability terms decide the pace.

Prelims and Mains

Uranium from Australia is the supply India can buy under the civil nuclear cooperation agreement the two countries signed in 2015.

• Australia holds more than a quarter of the world's uranium reserves.
• It long refused to sell to countries outside the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty; India is outside the treaty but was exempted by the Nuclear Suppliers Group in 2008.