The Fast Breeder Test Reactor—Design and operating experiences

The Fast Breeder Test Reactor is a 40 MW t, loop type sodium cooled fast reactor, built at Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam, as a fore-runner to the second stage of Indian nuclear power programme. The reactor design is based on the French reactor Rapsodie, with several modifications, which include the provision of a steam–water circuit and turbine-generator in place of sodium–air heat exchanger in Rapsodie. The reactor uses a high Pu monocarbide as the driver fuel, and went critical on 18th October, 1985. Being a unique fuel of its kind without any irradiation data, it was decided to use the reactor itself as the test bed for this driver fuel. The fuel has performed extremely well, with the peak burn-up reaching 136 GW d/t as of 31st December 2004. This paper gives a description of the reactor and summarises the operating history of the reactor. The operating experience of FBTR has provided sufficient feed-back and confidence for India to launch upon the design and construction of a 500 MWe fast reactor.