Kalpakkam: India will set up its first Fast Reactor Fuel Cycle Facility (FRFCF) along with the prototype fast breeder reactor now under construction at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) at Kalpakkam, about 60 kms from Chennai.
   The FRFCF, to be set up by 2014, would reprocess the spent fuel from the 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) and would use this fuel for the twin reactors coming up at Kalpakkam, Dr Baldev Raj, director, IGCAR told The Times of India.
   “The FRFCF would reprocess the spent fuel to separate the unutilised plutonium and uranium from the fission products that are radioactive waste. This is a very unique facility in the world where fuel reprocessing,

ONE OF A KIND: The fast reactor fuel cycle facility will be
colocated with the prototype fast breeder reactor

refabrication and waste management plants are being colocated with a nuclear plant,” Dr Raj said. It would be co-located with the nuclear plant to avoid transportation of spent fuel.
   The first 500 MW Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) would become critical by 2010 and two more 500 MW Fast Breeder Reactors would

come up at the same location by 2020.
   “The FRFCF should be ready by 2014. It has to reprocess the fuel from the first reactor itself, which would become critical in 2010. So, by the time the fuel comes out after delivering the energy, we must be ready with this facility,” he said.

Two more fast breeder reactors which have been planned, will also have similar co-located fuel reprocessing facilities.
   The centre has to provide sanction for the Rs 2,500 crore facility, which is expected next year, he said.