India will build 16 new reactors within 5 years with a capacity to generate 16100 MW electricity. Out of these 16 reactors 8 will be based on PHWR technology with a total capacity to generate 5600 MW electricity. The country developed a Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) to compete with Candu Energy and CNNC. India has 22 nuclear reactors in operation out of which 12 nuclear power reactors are based on PHWRS technology, namely Tarapur 3 & 4, Rajasthan 1 & 6, Madras 1 & 2, Narora 1 & 2, Kakrapar 1 & 2 and Kaiga 1 & 4.
The Head of the Nuclear Control and Planning of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) Mr. Ranajit Kumar recently presented the innovation in the reactor ready for export. He added that the current PHWR reactors have the capacity to generate between 220 MW and 700 MW electricity and several countries were already interested in the acquisition of such. Mr. Kumar did not reveal the names of the prospective countries.
Note:
For reference, the PHWR use unenriched natural uranium as its fuel that uses heavy water (deuterium oxide D2O) as its coolant and moderator. The heavy water coolant is kept under pressure, allowing it to be heated to higher temperatures without boiling, much as in a typical pressurized water reactor. While heavy water is significantly more expensive than ordinary light water, it yields greatly enhanced neutron economy, allowing the reactor to operate without fuel enrichment facilities (mitigating the additional capital cost of the heavy water) and generally enhancing the ability of the reactor to efficiently make use of alternate fuel cycles.
