With limited domestic uranium ore, but thorium more than sixty percent of the world’s reserves, India hopes to generate energy for the next four hundred years using thorium. But it has yet to generate the first commercial electricity using this locally abundant fuel.
18,000 villages in the country need electricity but don’t have it; consumption in the cities is increasing rapidly. This year, in New Delhi alone, the consumption of electricity will reach 7,000 megawatts. Many power stations have to be operated together to provide electricity to the capital city.
One of the challenges in using thorium-powered reactors is that these can take about five decades to build. Besides, electricity cannot be produced from thorium alone — the fuel must include 20 percent of plutonium. A thorium-based power generation program is undergoing extensive research at the Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research at Kalpakkam, in India’s southern state of Chennai. After adding 1,940 pounds of plutonium in the Chennai based Advanced Thorium Breeder Reactor, it will change to 24,470 pounds of Thorium Uranium 233. The Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research is also developing a 500 MW fast breeder reactor.
Last updated: December 26th, 2025
