this post was submitted on 07 Sep 2023
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NPCI is building two 700MW pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWR), including Units 3 and 4 at Kakrapar, where there are two 220MW power plants. Officials say that in July, the fourth unit recorded 97.56% progress.

Wonder why they're building these instead of thermal coal plants

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (4 children)

The important bit:

Is that India has limited uranium but lots of thorium...

And their over all strategy to get around that includes "coincidentally" making a shit ton of weapons grade plutonium...

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/India%27s_three-stage_nuclear_power_programme

That plan from decades ago was to make a few of these so they dont burn through their uranium before they have enough plutonium to start using the thorium.

What Modi is doing doesn't make sense for that plan, he's moving to fast and investing too heavily in phase 1.

It only makes sense if he didn't care about long term nuclear power, and just trying to make as much plutonium 239 as possible. Which would be worth an absolute shit ton of you have no ethics on who you sold it too...

And Modi has spent the last couple years openly saying he doesn't give a shit about other countries and is fine doing business with anyone.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I'd be surprised if India had trouble finding someone to sell them uranium. Thorium is still a generation away.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

Fast breeder reactors with on site fuel reprocessing are still not economical. Thorium is more than a generation away.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago
  1. I think you drastically underestimate what "long term" means when talking about nuclear power

  2. The entire reason for India using this method that coincidentally makes weapon grade plutonium is energy independence.

I'd say maybe I didn't do a good enough job in my summary, but you can just read that linked article if I'm the issue, so I won't try again

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

And their over all strategy to get around that includes "coincidentally" making a shit ton of weapons grade plutonium...

I browsed the Wikipedia page you linked and there’s a lot of info, could you maybe point me to which section details that part?

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

India has nuclear bomb doesn't it? The plutonium would be for them I expect. There are more than some nuclear powers around them.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

India currently has a plutonium stockpile that would allow them to assemble around 1k plutonium pits for bombs on top of the current hundred or so bombs they have. They're quite flush with the stuff. Pakistan mostly uses high enriched uranium for bombs.