Towards closing the fuel cycle of PFBR, a fast reactor fuel cycle facility (FRFCF) has been planned with its construction to commence next year. The facility is expected to be operational, in time to process the irradiated fuel discharged from the PFBR. The production of the mixed oxide fuel for PFBR has already commenced.

I had mentioned in my last year’s address in this conference about excellent performance of our indigenously designed mixed carbide fuel for FBTR and about our successful reprocessing of the high burn-up carbide fuel from FBTR after a short cooling period. I am happy to inform that fissile material recovered from reprocessing has now been fabricated into mixed carbide fuel. This fuel will be loaded into FBTR during the next reload schedule. Closing the mixed carbide fuel cycle has been an important milestone for us in our fuel cycle activities related to fast reactor programme. I may also add here that we are now operating FBTR with an expanded hybrid core consisting of mixed carbide and mixed oxide fuel. The high Pu MOX now forms about 20 per cent of the FBTR core.

We are looking forward to the possibility of opening up of international civil nuclear cooperation. We expect such cooperation to be sustainable, free from interruptions and consistent with our national policy of closed fuel cycle. With a view to significantly augment nuclear power generation capacity in the near-term through imports, as an addition to the ongoing indigenous programme, a Site Selection Committee has evaluated coastal sites in the country for the reactors to be set up in a convoy mode.

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