[en] The aim of its three-stage nuclear power programme is to ultimately utilize the thorium deposits on a large scale and to maximize the use of modest reserve of natural uranium in PHWRs and also produce plutonium as a by-product to be used in second-stage. The first-stage of PHWRs is already in industrial domain and presently 14 PHWRs having total installed capacity of 3720 MWe are in operation in India. Narora Atomic Power Station (NAPS) falls under first-stage and is situated on right bank of Holy River Ganga in District Bulandshahr of Uttar Pradesh, 160 km east on Delhi-Badaun high way

[en] Energy outlook around the globe is riddled with twin challenges of energy security and global warming while energy-options to this end remain rather limited. Among multitude of aspects essential for evaluating acceptability of any such energy-option, one aspect that plays a pivotal and to some extent determining role, is the element of sustainability. In past few years, AERB has carried out a few such assessments during its regulatory review of use of Slightly Enriched Uranium (SEU) fuel bundles, Mixed-OXide (MOX) fuel, employing depleted uranium (DU), deeply depleted uranium (DDU), thorium (Th) in existing PHWR cores in India. This paper presents the findings on associated safety aspects which were assessed during regulatory review of the proposals