India's 3 stage Nuclear Program: Here's everything you need to know

Nuclear energy is important for the growth and survival of modern human civilization.  It was in the 1950s when the father of the Indian nuclear program, Dr. Homi Bhabha conceptualized the three-stage nuclear program in India. The purpose of the plan was to make use of the extensive thorium reserves of the country in an efficient manner.

There are many countries that hold an abundant uranium reserve, but the limited uranium resources of India prompted the establishment of a thorium-based nuclear fuel cycle plan.  The aim of the program is to achieve energy self-sufficiency through three stages.

The three-stage nuclear energy program of India plays an important role in catering to the existent correlation between the quality of life and per capita energy consumption, as suggested by the UN Human Development Index.

Three-Stage Nuclear Program of India

It was at the very beginning of the atomic energy program of India that the relevance of nuclear energy was understood. The three stages of the nuclear program are as follows:

• Pressurized Heavy Water reactors
• Fast Breeder Reactors (FBRs)
• Advanced Nuclear Power Systems

Let us understand these stages one by one.

STAGE 1: The Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors

The very first stage of the nuclear program makes use of natural uranium to fuel the Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors to generate electricity. As a by-product, Plutonium-239 would be produced.

Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors were made to use for the first stage of the program as India had a good reactor design in the 1960s which was efficient with uranium utilization.

STAGE 2: The Fast Breeder Reactors

The second stage of the Stage 3 nuclear program of India will make use of plutonium-239 in order to generate mixed-oxide fuel. This would be made to use in Fast Breeder Reactors. The Plutonium 239 goes through fission in order to generate energy. Once a good quantity of plutonium-239 is built up, thorium will be made to use in the reactor in order to generate Uranium-233. This uranium proves to be important for the third stage of the nuclear program.

STAGE 3: The Advanced Heavy Water Reactors

The main aim of the third stage of the nuclear program is to get a sustainable nuclear fuel cycle. The advanced nuclear system will be made to use a combination of Thorium and Uranium-233. Therefore, the vast thorium of India would be exploited with the use of a thermal breeder reactor.

The use of thorium was reserved for the third and last stage of the nuclear program as despite having enough availability, the use of Thorium in energy production has had a wide array of challenges. One of them is that it cannot be made to use directly.

Because it is a fertile material, it can only be made to use with added fissile material. This material can be enriched with Uranium-233, Plutonium, or Uranium.

Thorium absorbs neutrons. Thus, it can produce more plutonium with the help of a Fast Breeder Reactor for efficient and speedy growth.

Thus, making use of Thorium in an early segment of the second stage of the 3 stage nuclear power program will adversely impact the growth rate of generation capacity of nuclear power in the initial periods.

It is because of these reasons that deployment of Thorium on a large scale of postponed until the second part of the second stage. It is only at the right time that thorium is to be introduced at the time of the operation of the Fast Breeder Reactors in the second stage.

For power generation, Thorium is used specifically in the third stage.