Question

Which of the following is the oldest Nuclear research reactor of India?
1. Kamini
2. Cirus
3. Dhruva
4. Apsara

Answer 1

Correct Answer - Option 4 : Apsara

​The correct answer is Apsara.

• Apsara is the oldest Nuclear research reactor in India.
  • Apsara is a highly versatile swimming pool-type of reactor that was built in August 1956. It was shut down in 2009 for a revamp.
  • The research reactor's earlier French-made enriched fuel has been replaced with an Indian-made enriched fuel.
  • Nearly 62 years after Apsara came into existence, a swimming pool-type research reactor Apsara-upgraded of higher capacity was commissioned. The reactor made indigenously uses plate-type dispersion fuel elements made of low enriched uranium.
  • The Apsara reactor was utilized for various experiments including neutron activation analysis, radiation damage studies, forensic research, neutron radiography, and shielding experiments.

Nuclear Reactor	Details
Kamini	KAMINI (Kalpakkam Mini reactor) is a research reactor at Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research in Kalpakkam, India, it is the world's only thorium-based experimental reactor. KAMINI was the first and is currently the only reactor in the world designed specifically to use Uranium-233 fuel.
Cirus	CIRUS was a research reactor at the Bhabha Atomic Research Center in Trombay near Mumbai, India. CIRUS was supplied by Canada in 1954 but used heavy water supplied by the United States. It was the second nuclear reactor to be built in India.
Dhruva	The Dhruva reactor is India's largest nuclear research reactor. It was the first nuclear reactor in Asia proper. Located in the Mumbai suburb of Trombay at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, it is India's primary generator of weapons-grade plutonium-bearing spent fuel for its nuclear weapons program.