THE Indian nuclear establishment first adopted breeder reactors as part of a three-stage nuclear program that was put forth in the 1950s as a means of expanding nuclear power using the country’s limited and subpar uranium ore resources. Using uranium fuel in heavy-water reactors was the initial step in this technique. After that, the spent, radioactively contaminated fuel was reprocessed to recover plutonium. The accumulated plutonium will be used as fuel in the fast breeder reactors’ cores during the second stage. A layer of either (depleted) uranium or thorium surrounded the cores to create more uranium-233 or plutonium, respectively. In the third stage, breeder reactors employ thorium in their blankets and uranium-233 in their cores. The fast breeder reactors can significantly increase plutonium production capacity.

Under a 2009 arrangement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), India lists roughly 22 civilian power reactors; eight remain outside IAEA safeguards. Indian Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) declared the sites and facilities associated with the breeder program would not be placed under IAEA safeguards. This covers the whole Kalpakkam site near Madras, which is home to 40 MWe Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR) and the newly built 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR).The unsafeguarded reactors reduce the transparency where India is already struggling with........

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