The Reactor Research Centre set up at Kalpakkam, India, 80 km south of Chennai in 1971 under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) was renamed Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research (IGCAR) in 1985. The center is primarily a research facility besides being a nuclear power plant aiding in meeting a percentage of the electricity demands of the country.
The Director of IGCAR is Dr. S. C. Chetal.
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The facility houses two PHWRs that generate 220MWe each that operate for commercial purposes. These are managed independently by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India.[1]
There are two reactors at IGCAR.
In addition the Research Facility also built the 100MWe reactor for India's first nuclear submarine the Advanced Technology Vessel project and operated it on land for testing purposes since it attained criticality in December 2004.[2] The submarine to be launched on July 26, 2009 has been fitted with this reactor.[3]
Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor, a 500MWe fast breeder reactor using Mixed Oxide (Uranium oxide + Plutonium oxide) fuel based on the Sodium-cooled fast reactor design. [4]
The Kalpakkam Atomic Reprocessing Plant [KARP] facility has been estimated to have a capacity to reprocess 100 tonnes of plutonium per annum.it incorporates a number of innovative features such as hybrid maintenance concept in hot cells using servo-manipulators and engineered provisions for extending the life of the plant. This plant will cater to the needs of reprocessing fuels from MAPS as well as FBTR.It has mastered the technology of reprocessing highly irradiated mixed carbide fuel for the first time in the world. [5]
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