{"id":277297,"date":"2024-01-11T17:30:35","date_gmt":"2024-01-11T12:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=277297"},"modified":"2024-01-11T17:30:35","modified_gmt":"2024-01-11T12:00:35","slug":"aneel-new-nuclear-fuel-that-can-guarantee-indias-green-energy-transition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/aneel-new-nuclear-fuel-that-can-guarantee-indias-green-energy-transition\/","title":{"rendered":"ANEEL: New nuclear fuel that can guarantee India\u2019s green energy transition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source:<\/strong> This post is based on the article\u00a0\u201cThis new nuclear fuel can guarantee India\u2019s green energy transition<\/strong>\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0published in\u00a0\u201cThe Hindu\u201d<\/strong> on 10th<\/sup>\u00a0January 2024.<\/p>\n

Why in news?<\/h2>\n

Clean Core Thorium Energy, a Chicago-based company, developed ANEEL (Advanced Nuclear Energy for Enriched Life),<\/strong> a fuel that combines Thorium and High Assay Low Enriched Uranium (HALEU)<\/strong> (named after India’s scientist, Dr Anil Kakodkar).<\/p>\n

What is High Assay Low Enriched Uranium (HALEU)?<\/strong><\/p>\n

HALEU<\/strong> is defined as uranium enriched to greater than 5% and less than 20% of the U-235 isotope. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Most of the current reactors run on uranium fuel enriched up to 5 percent Uranium-235.<\/strong><\/p>\n

HALEU is needed for many of the advanced nuclear reactor designs under development. But HALEU is not yet widely available commercially.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"aneel\"
Clean Core\u2019s nuclear fuel bundle made from Thorium and HALE Source:<\/strong> The Hindu<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How ANEEL can be a game-changer for green energy transition?<\/h2>\n

1) ANEEL can be used in the existing Pressurized Heavy-Water Reactors (PHWRs)<\/strong> which is an indigenous reactor system.<\/p>\n

2) ANEEL provides an easier and quicker alternative<\/strong> for the deployment of thorium leveraging imported HALEU, especially for nations which lack the infrastructure to install natural gas, wind or solar or hydro.<\/p>\n

3) By utilising this fuel, the operation cost and nuclear waste can be reduced<\/strong> significantly as compared with the currently used natural uranium.<\/p>\n

4) ANEEL fuel bundle lasts much longer and burns more efficiently. <\/strong><\/p>\n

5) The spent ANEEL fuel cannot be used for weapons.<\/strong><\/p>\n

6) With this, India<\/strong>\u00a0can guarantee\u00a0green energy security<\/strong>\u00a0for the subcontinent by fast-tracking the use of\u00a0Thorium<\/strong>\u00a0in nuclear reactors.<\/p>\n

What is the status of Thorium in India?<\/h2>\n

1) Thorium is contained in, and produced from, the natural mineral monazite, occurring often as a sand deposit.<\/p>\n

2) <\/strong>Department of Atomic Energy (DAE)has established 11.93 million tonnes of in situ resources Monazite <\/strong>(Thorium bearing mineral) in the country, which contains about 1.07 million tonnes of thorium.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
State-wise resources of in situ monazite established by AMD as of September 2014 Source: PIB<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

3) India<\/strong>\u00a0has the\u00a0world\u2019s largest reserves of Thorium, <\/b>which is estimated at 1.07 million tonnes,\u00a0<\/strong>enough to last over a century.<\/p>\n

2) If India uses this thorium, it can then produce enough green energy and easily turn net-zero by its target date of 2070<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

UPSC syllabus: Science and technology<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: This post is based on the article\u00a0\u201cThis new nuclear fuel can guarantee India\u2019s green energy transition\u201d\u00a0published in\u00a0\u201cThe Hindu\u201d on 10th\u00a0January 2024. Why in news? Clean Core Thorium Energy, a Chicago-based company, developed ANEEL (Advanced Nuclear Energy for Enriched Life), a fuel that combines Thorium and High Assay Low Enriched Uranium (HALEU) (named after India’s… Continue reading ANEEL: New nuclear fuel that can guarantee India\u2019s green energy transition<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10366,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,1738],"tags":[11872,10498],"class_list":["post-277297","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-science-and-technology-daily-factly-articles","tag-9pm-daily-factly","tag-the-hindu","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277297","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10366"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277297"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277297\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}