Closed Nuclear Fuel Cycle

Purpose & Approach

• Goal: Optimal use of limited uranium & large thorium reserves for long-term energy security.

• Strategy: Recover & recycle fissile and fertile material from spent nuclear fuel (SNF) instead of disposing as waste.

• Benefits:

  • Better utilisation of nuclear resources.

  • Improved energy security.

  • Reduced volume of high-level radioactive waste.

Three-Stage Nuclear Power Programme Alignment

1. Stage 1:

   • Use domestic uranium in Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs).

2. Stage 2:

   • Use plutonium from reprocessed PHWR spent fuel in Fast Breeder Reactors (FBRs).

   • Facilities: Fast Breeder Test Reactor + R&D facilities.

   • Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) & integrated nuclear reprocessing plant for fast reactor fuel under construction at Kalpakkam.

3. Stage 3:

   • Large-scale use of thorium (Th-232) to breed Uranium-233.

   • Use U-233 as fuel in advanced reactors.

Thorium R&D Achievements

• Thoria pellets used in PHWR cores; operational experience gained.

• Thoria-based fuels irradiated in BARC research reactors → post-irradiation studies conducted.

• Reprocessed irradiated thoria to obtain U-233 → fabricated as fuel for KAMINI reactor (30 kW, thermal) at IGCAR, Kalpakkam → only reactor in the world running on U-233.

• Lab-scale tech developed for making Thoria-based pellets with U-233.

Institutional Roles

• UCIL: Mines & processes uranium ore. Plans expansion via:

  • Sustained supply from existing mines.

  • Debottlenecking, modernisation, capacity expansion.

• AMD: Exploration & resource augmentation of uranium and thorium via advanced surveys (heliborne, geophysical, drilling, etc.).

Resource Status (as of Aug 2025)

• Uranium:

  • 4,33,800 tonnes in-situ U₃O₈ in 47 deposits (AP, Telangana, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, UP, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra).

• Thorium:

  • 1.18 million tonnes ThO₂ in 13.15 Mt monazite from 136 deposits (coastal & inland) – Kerala, TN, Odisha, AP, Maharashtra, Gujarat, WB, Jharkhand.

  • Additional 29,900 tonnes ThO₂ in hard rock (Gujarat).