Bharat Small Reactors being readied, modification of 220 MW reactors under way, says Atomic Energy Commission’s Grover

India’s 220 MW Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor is being modified and converted to Bharat Small Reactors, preparatory to handing over to the private sector, said RB Grover, member of the Atomic Energy Commission in Ahmedabad on Saturday.

“India already has a live 220 MW Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor design. We have a number of them working in the country including Narora (Uttar Pradesh), Rajasthan, Kakrapar (Gujarat), Kalpakkam (Tamil Nadu), Kaiga (Karnataka) and so on. This particular design is being modified and converted as Bharat Small Reactors... In other words, Bharat Small Reactors are nothing but 220 MW Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR) with some improvements,” Grover told reporters on the sidelines of an event at Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A).

“NPCIL (Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited) is in the process of making drawings for this. The modification is minimal”, and change is incremental, he added. “It is not a new design (but) an existing and proven design. Other countries are trying to reinvent the whole thing. We already have it available and the Department of Atomic Energy is ready to team (up) with the private sector and install them,” added Grover, who is also an Emeritus Professor at Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai.

He said NPCIL would design, install and operate these reactors for private companies that are looking for a captive power plant that can produce hydrogen for industrial use, or electricity. On the safety features of the reactors, Grover said, “The new 220 MW will also have a steel liner and the control and instrumentation will be replaced. It is already a safe reactor and it will become safer.” He said the modifications to 220 MW PHWR will not take more than a year to implement.

During the Budget speech for financial year 2024-25, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the government would partner with the private sector for setting up Bharat Small Reactors (BSR) as well as engage in research and development of Bharat Small Modular Reactor or BSMR.

The PHWR technology in India started as part of the Indo-Canadian nuclear cooperation. In the 1960s, the construction of the first 220 MW reactor was taken up as part of Rajasthan Atomic Power Station-1. However, after the Pokhran-1 tests in 1974, Candians withdrew support and India indigenously developed and standardised the design for the 220 MW reactors.