New Delhi: India marked a major step in nuclear energy when fuel loading began at a 500-megawatt fast-breeder reactor prototype in Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu. Authorities expect the unit to start producing electricity by April 2026. Only Russia has taken this technology to industrial production so far, and India now stands as the second country to move a fast-breeder machine from the test stage to the prototype stage. China remains at the test level on similar designs.

Fast-breeder reactors earn their name because they create more fissile fuel than they consume. The reactor removes the usual step that slows neutrons in conventional plants. This design turns abundant uranium-238 into usable nuclear fuel inside the reactor itself. Indian scientists worked on this capability for two decades and

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