HALEU-Thorium fuel unsuitable for Indian nuclear reactors: study
An indigenous pressurised heavy water reactor under construction at Kakrapar, Gujarat, 2016. | Photo Credit: Reetesh Chaurasia (CC BY-SA) Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) researchers have reported that a new kind of nuclear fuel, touted for being able to allow India to take advantage of its vast thorium reserves, will not fit in the country’s three-stage programme and could entail expensive reactor redesigns. The study was published in Current Science. The composition the team evaluated is called HALEU-Thorium. It is the basis for “Advanced Nuclear Energy for Enriched Life”, or ANEEL, a fuel that the state-owned NTPC, Ltd. and the U.S.-based company Clean Core Thorium Energy are currently exploring. India’s long-term nuclear energy plan has three stages. In the ongoing first stage, India is using pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWRs) using natural uranium. However, India has much less access to uranium than thorium, so the next two stages are designed to transition to using more thorium. ANEEL mixes thorium with high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU), which contains uranium enriched to 5-20%. Its proponents have suggested ANEEL …