Brief Context
Context The SHANTI Act 2025 represents a watershed moment for India’s atomic energy programme; however, resolving the challenges of thorium utilisation is urgent. India’s Thorium Reserves India has one of the largest reserves of thorium in the world. Together, Kerala and Odisha account for over 70% of India’s thorium.
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Syllabus: GS3/Energy Sector
Context
- The SHANTI Act 2025 represents a watershed moment for India’s atomic energy programme; however, resolving the challenges of thorium utilisation is urgent.
India’s Thorium Reserves
- India has one of the largest reserves of thorium in the world.
- Together, Kerala and Odisha account for over 70% of India’s thorium.
- India has been developing a three-stage nuclear program, with thorium-based reactors being a critical part of the third stage.
- Challenges: Extracting thorium from ores requires high amounts of energy and creates significant waste.
- It includes challenges such as the need for advanced reactor technology and economic viability.
Need for Thorium Utilization
- Reduce Reliance on Imports: The growth of nuclear generation capacity currently depends heavily on imported uranium.
- Domestic uranium ores are lean and costly to extract, though this does provide some insulation against supply disruptions.
- Sustainability of Uranium Production: By the time India reaches 100 GWe, global nuclear generation capacity is expected to grow from around 380 GWe today to around 1,400 GWe.
- At that scale, the world’s known uranium reserves of about 8 million tonnes would be enough to run nuclear reactors for only about 30 years if the fuel is used once and then discarded.
Significance of Thorium for India
- Resource Advantage: India has limited uranium but abundant thorium reserves, mainly in coastal and riverine sands.
- Nuclear Behaviour: Thorium is not fissile like uranium; it is fertile and converts into uranium-233 after absorbing neutrons, which can then sustain nuclear fission.
- Strategic Fit: Integral to India’s long-term three-stage nuclear power programme.
India’s Three-stage nuclear programme
- Establishment: India established the Atomic Energy Commission in 1948.
- In 1956, Asia’s first research reactor, Apsara, was commissioned at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in Trombay.
- India was the second Asian nation to build a nuclear power plant in 1969 at Tarapur, just after Japan and long before China.
- India has a three-phase programme of nuclear power visioned by Dr Homi J Bhabha, the father of India’s nuclear programme.
- First Stage (Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors – PHWRs): India’s nuclear program initially focused on establishing a fleet of PHWRs.
- These reactors use natural uranium (U-238), which contains minuscule amounts of U-235, as the fissile material.
- Heavy water (deuterium oxide) as both moderator and coolant.
- The primary purpose of this stage was to produce plutonium-239 as a byproduct from the uranium fuel.
- Plutonium-239 is a fissile material used as fuel in nuclear reactors.
- Second Stage (Fast Breeder Reactors – FBRs): The second stage of the program involves the deployment of Fast Breeder Reactors (FBRs).
- FBRs are designed to produce more fissile material than they consume by utilizing a fast neutron spectrum.
- In this stage, plutonium-239 produced in the first stage is used as fuel along with U-238 to produce energy, U-233, and more Pu-239.
- Uranium-233 is another fissile material that can be used as fuel in nuclear reactors.
- Third Stage (Advanced Heavy Water Reactors – AHWRs): The final stage of the program entails the deployment of Advanced Heavy Water Reactors (AHWRs).
- Pu-239 will be combined with thorium-232 (Th-232) in reactors to produce energy and U-233.
- Thorium is abundantly available in India, and this stage aims to harness its potential as a nuclear fuel.
Source: IE