October 24, 2007 (LPAC)--India must seek to achieve self-sufficiency in nuclear power through its development of thorium reactors, former Indian President APJ Abdul Kalam, said in an interview in London on Oct. 23.

Kalam, widely recognized as the father of India's rocket program, noted that India has a shortage of uranium but one of the largest reserves of thorium in the world, abundant in the gray sands of India's southwestern beaches.

Thorium is also a fuel, but it is not a fissile material, Kalam explained. "You have to convert it into a fissile material through the fast breeder reactor, which we are building," he said. In the fast breeder reactor, a blanket of thorium is positioned to surround the fissioning uranium nuclei. The excess fast neutrons from the chain reaction convert thorium-232 into uranium-233, an isotope of uranium with very good characteristics as a fuel for nuclear reactors.

"Our scientists are busy developing this," Kalam said, "and in the next five to seven years, thorium fuel-based nuclear reactor will be a reality."