India and Russia Make Plans for a Super Safe Small Thorium-Fueled Breeder-Power Reactor

April 4—According to an Indian contact, India and Russia are in the process of developing a small (60-100MW), sealed thorium breeder reactors which would run for 30 years and then will be buried. Each reactor will be smaller than a windmill, which could only produce one-thousandth the power, with a girth of about 10 feet, and height of about 45 feet.

These reactors will have a number of compartments where thorium-232 will be converted to uranium-233 —the fissile material, and generate power. There will be 5-6 compartments in each reactor, and these will be triggered one after the other as the fuel in one compartment gets depleted. The reactor would need no refuelling, and it will need no maintenance. The switching of power generation from one compartment to another will be automatic. And once the life span of the reactor ends, it would be buried in the same sealed condition.

Poverty in Mumbai, India

The advantage of these reactors, besides being super safe, is that they can be located all over rural India, which is in dire need for power, water, healthcare and adequate educational facilities, without developing a huge infrastruture only for the purpose of situating the reactor itself. When the power demand in any particular area would outstrip the supply, more reactors will be placed in a cluster to meet the demand.

The radioactive waste would remain sealed forever. In addition, since the entire 30 years' supply of fuel will be put inside the reactor prior to sealing, the reactor will not encounter any downtime for refuelling.