Source: https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Indian-PM-dedicates-demonstration-reprocessing-pla
The Demonstration Fast Reactor Fuel Reprocessing Plant (DFRP) is a precursor to large-scale plants for the reprocessing of fast reactor fuel.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi ceremonially dedicated the DFRP, at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) in Kalpakkam, to the nation on 2 January.
The facility - which has cost INR400 crore (about USD48 million - 1 crore is 10 million) to develop - is the first industrial-scale plant in the world that is capable of handling both carbide and oxide spent fuels from fast reactors, according to India's Department of Atomic Energy. The Indian-designed facility will serve as a precursor to large-scale commercial fast reactor fuel reprocessing plants.
Fast reactors are part of India's vision for a closed nuclear fuel cycle and making use of its abundant reserves of thorium. IGCAR is home to the MWt Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR), in operation since 1985. Work on a 500 MWe prototype fast breeder reactor - the PFBR - began at Kalpakkam in 2004; in August last year, Minister of State Jitendra Singh told the Lok Sabha that the unit was undergoing "integrated commissioining".
In 2017, IGCAR awarded Hindustan Construction Company a contract worth INR 7.64 billion to construct the Fast Reactor Fuel Cycle Facility (FRFCF) to reprocess used fuel from the PFBR.
