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Dr P. R. Vasudeva Rao

Our Bureau

Tiruchi, Feb. 15

The 500-MW electrical power capacity Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) in Kalpakkam will be readied by 2010 and the project is being executed well on schedule, said the Director, Chemistry Group of IGCAR, Dr P.R. Vasudeva Rao.

The project, estimated at Rs 3,492 crore, is the first of its kind in more than one aspect.

This is the first commercial venture by the IGCAR and the power generated, equivalent to 1,250 MW of thermal power, would be exported to the grid. It was again the first time that the reactor vessel had been fabricated at the site, he said here on Friday.

The safety vessel would be lowered into the reactor vault by the end of this month. The safety vessel, with a dish bottom and measuring 13.4 metres in diameter and 13.4 metre in height, has been fabricated at the project site.

Pointing out that the country’s average energy consumption was just one-fourth of that of the global average, Dr Vasudeva Rao, however, added that the pollution-free nuclear energy would make India a forerunner in the global scenario in the area of fast breeder reactor technology. Being a complicated technology requiring advanced skills, many countries are yet to venture into such projects. Dr Vasudeva Rao said that the IGCAR has planned to build four more similar PFBRs at Kalpakkam, of same capacity each. The additional units would be readied by 2020, he added.

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