India designs new version of AHW reactor for use with thorium
17 Sep 2009
Mumbai: India has designed a new version of its Advanced Heavy Water Reactor which will use low enriched uranium along with thorium as fuel, according to chairman of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission, Anil Kakodkar who made the announcement Wednesday in Vienna.
The 300 MWe Bhabha Atomic Research Centre designed and developed AHWR is a mainly thorium-fuelled reactor with several advanced passive safety features. The reactor is expected to start production soon, Kakodkar said.
"A new version of AHWR named Advanced Heavy Water Reactor-Low Enriched Uranium (AHWR-LEU) that uses low enriched uranium along with thorium as fuel has been designed recently," Kakodkar said at the International Atomic Energy Agency's general conference.
Significantly, the reactor will have a significantly lower requirement of mined uranium per unit energy produced, as compared to most of the current generation thermal reactors.
"This version can also meet the requirement of medium sized reactors in countries with small grids while meeting the requirements of next generation systems," Kakodkar said.
Indicating that India was ready for export of such reactors in the near future Kakodkar also said that the Indian Department of Atomic Energy had circulated a brochure of the new AHWR-LEU at the conference for the benefit of potential customers.
