India's three-stage nuclear power programme

Common card · No. 412631

India's three-stage nuclear power programme is an Indian nuclear program focused on enabling the utilisation of India's thorium reserves in meeting the country's energy requirements through the use of nuclear power. It was planned by physicist Homi J. Bhabha in the 1950s to secure the country's long term energy independence, through the use of uranium and thorium reserves found in the monazite sands of coastal regions of South India. Thorium is particularly attractive for India, as India has only around 1–2% of the global uranium reserves, but one of the largest shares of global thorium reserves at about 25% of the world's known thorium reserves. However, thorium is more difficult to use than uranium as a fuel because it requires breeding, and global uranium prices remain low enough that breeding is not cost effective. India published about twice the number of papers on thorium as its nearest competitors, during each of the years from 2002 to 2006. The Indian nuclear establishment estimates...

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