Fast Breeder Test Reactor at Kalpakkam reaches criticality
India's Fast Breeder Test Reactor at Kalpakkam reached first criticality, making India the seventh nation able to build and run a breeder reactor.
The Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR) at Kalpakkam is a 40 MWt sodium-cooled fast breeder reactor using a plutonium-uranium carbide fuel, designed and operated by the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) and the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. Construction began in 1972 and the reactor reached first criticality in October 1985. This made India the seventh nation with the technology to build and operate a breeder reactor. In the same year the Kalpakkam research centre was renamed the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, and the reactor became central to India's three-stage nuclear power programme.
.jpg){kind=link}