Cheni, Aug 27 : The foundation for India’s first fast reactor fuel reprocessing plant to be built at a cost of Rs.9,600 crore is expected to be laid in two months’ time at Kalpakkam in Tamil du, a top official has said. “The soil excavation work for the fuel reprocessing plants is almost over as the rocky layer has been reached. In two months’ time, the foundation for the reprocessing plants would be laid,” P.R. Vasudeva Rao, director, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) told IANS in an interview.
Rao said the FRFCF will be the first of its kind plant dedicated solely to reprocessing fast reactor fuels to cater to a commercial-sized reactor. He said the foundation has been laid for some of the administrative buildings connected to the Rs.9,600 crore Fast Reactor Fuel Cycle Facility (FRFCF).
Though FRFCF will have only fuel reprocessing plants and not a reactor, Rao said the plant buildings have to be seismically qualified and hence the need for deep excavation. Similarly all other safety aspects are being considered and incorporated in the project construction stage. Rao said action on tenders for nearly 50 percent of the total project cost is under progress. He said orders for long delivery machinery and equipment worth around Rs.500 crore have been placed till date. “The facility is slated to be commissioned towards the end of 2019,” Rao said. Rao said around Rs.500 crore would be spent on the project this fiscal. IGCAR, as per its mandate, designed and developed the 500 MW prototype fast breeder reactor (PFBR) which is now being built by Bharatiya bhikiya Vidyut Nigam Ltd (BHAVINI) at Kalpakkam. A fast-breeder reactor is one which breeds more material for a nuclear fission reaction than it consumes. It is the key to India’s three-stage nuclear power programme. The purpose of FRFCF is to reprocess the spent fuel of PFBR and also other two fast reactors expected to come up at Kalpakkam, around 70 km from here. (IANS)