India to get first fast reactor fuel reprocessing plant

Chennai, Aug 27 (IANS) The foundation for India's first fast reactor fuel reprocessing plant to be built at a cost of Rs.9,600 crore is expected to be laid in two months' time at Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu, a top official has said. "The soil excavation work for the fuel reprocessing plants is almost over as the rocky layer has been reached. In two months' time, the foundation for the reprocessing plants would be laid," P.R. Vasudeva Rao, director, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) told IANS in an interview. Rao said the FRFCF will be the first of its kind plant dedicated solely to reprocessing fast reactor fuels to cater to a commercial-sized reactor. He said the foundation has been laid for some of the administrative buildings connected to the Rs.9,600 crore Fast Reactor Fuel Cycle Facility (FRFCF). Though FRFCF will have only fuel reprocessing plants and not a reactor, Rao said the plant buildings have to be seismically qualified and hence the need for deep excavation. Similarly all other safety aspects are being considered and incorporated in the project construction stage.