What ails the India-US N-deal?

The Fast Breeder Reactor Programme is part of Indian nuclear programme architect Homi J Bhabha's plans to overcome the problem caused by India's shortage of natural uranium and using the huge reserves of thorium instead.

The first stage of Bhabha's three-stage plan involves the extraction of plutonium, a fissile material which comes out as spent fuel from the Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors.

'Bhabha wanted India to be a Nuclear Weapons State'

The second part involves placing the extracted plutonium in the core of a fast breeder reactor with some uranium. Operating the reactor with a thorium blanket converts some of the thorium into U233. The third stage entails using the U233 and thorium together in another reactor.

The thermal breeder reactor is one of the few proposed large-scale uses of thorium. As of 2006 only India is developing this technology, says wikipedia. Click here for more details.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre's supercomputer facility June 4, 2005

Also See: Use Thorium reserves for N-power: Kalam