Archive · 17 Sep 2026
India’s Scientist Urges Early Thorium Shift in PHWR Fleet
Anil Kakodkar says India should start using thorium fuel in its nuclear reactors sooner.
India currently relies partly on imported uranium, but it has large thorium resources.
He believes thorium could help India produce more energy with less dependence on foreign fuel.
India’s pressurised heavy water reactors, or PHWRs, could use a mixture called HALEU-thorium fuel.
Kakodkar says this would not require major changes to the reactors.
He also supports continuing India’s three-stage nuclear power programme.
Fast breeder reactors are important to that programme but may take two or three decades to deploy widely.
Thorium molten salt reactors could begin a later stage in about 15 years, according to his estimate.
He also believes India’s PHWR technology could become useful for exports and small modular reactor projects.
Anil Kakodkar urged India to introduce thorium-based fuel early in its indigenous PHWR fleet.
He said domestic PHWRs could supply a major share of India’s planned 100 GWe nuclear capacity by 2047.
Kakodkar warned that uranium supply and security challenges could emerge within the next 10–15 years.
He proposed using HALEU-thorium fuel in PHWRs without significant reactor-design changes.
He said this approach could support development of thorium molten salt reactors in about 15 years.
- Who
- Anil Kakodkar, former Chairman of India’s Atomic Energy Commission, made the proposal.
- What
- He called for earlier use of thorium-based, particularly HALEU-thorium, fuel in India’s PHWR fleet while continuing the three-stage nuclear programme.
- When
- The article does not provide a publication date; Kakodkar discussed the proposal in an interview.
- Where
- The discussion concerns India’s domestic nuclear reactor fleet; the interview was given to The Indian Express.
- Why
- To accelerate thorium use, reduce dependence on imported uranium, address possible future uranium supply constraints, and support long-term energy security.
- Proposed fuel
- HALEU-thorium fuel, combining thorium with high-assay low-enriched uranium.
- Reactor platform
- India’s indigenous pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWRs).
- Nuclear mission
- A planned 100 gigawatt-electric nuclear capacity programme to be implemented between now and 2047.
- Uranium concern
- Kakodkar expects uranium supply and security challenges could affect India within the next 10–15 years.
- Thorium reactor timeline
- He said thorium molten salt reactors could begin their third-stage role in about 15 years.
- Fast breeder reactors
- Large-scale deployment remains a work in progress, with two or three decades of technology transitions before fleet deployment, according to Kakodkar.
- Small reactor proposal
- He recommended deploying 220 MWe PHWRs for captive clean-energy supply, with progressive modularisation.