Nuclear Energy Quiz: India's Atomic Programme

Spoilers! These are the Starter quiz’s answers. Easy, Medium, Hard and Mixed rounds show their own answers when you finish.

1. Who is regarded as the father of the Indian nuclear programme?

   • Vikram Sarabhai
   • C.V. Raman
   • Raja Ramanna
   • Homi J. Bhabha

   Answer: Homi J. Bhabha. Homi Bhabha founded TIFR and chaired the Atomic Energy Commission (1948) and designed the three-stage plan. Raja Ramanna led the 1974 test.

2. Apsara (1956), India's — and Asia's — first research reactor, is located at:

   • Tarapur
   • Kalpakkam
   • Trombay
   • Kota

   Answer: Trombay. Apsara reached criticality on 4 August 1956 at Trombay, Mumbai, now the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) campus.

3. Which was India's first nuclear power station, commissioned in 1969?

   • Tarapur
   • Rawatbhata
   • Narora
   • Kudankulam

   Answer: Tarapur. Tarapur in Maharashtra started in 1969 with two boiling water reactors supplied by the USA.

4. In India's three-stage nuclear power programme, the second stage is based on:

   • Pressurised heavy water reactors using natural uranium
   • Fast breeder reactors using plutonium-based fuel
   • Thorium-based advanced reactors
   • Fusion reactors

   Answer: Fast breeder reactors using plutonium-based fuel. Stage 1 uses natural uranium in PHWRs and produces plutonium; stage 2 burns that plutonium in fast breeders and breeds more fuel; stage 3 is meant to run on thorium.

5. The main reason India's long-term nuclear strategy focuses on thorium is that:

   • India has large thorium reserves but limited uranium
   • Thorium is fissile and can sustain a chain reaction on its own
   • Thorium reactors produce no radioactive waste
   • Thorium reactors do not need any moderator or coolant

   Answer: India has large thorium reserves but limited uranium. India holds large thorium reserves in coastal monazite sands but modest uranium. Thorium is fertile, not fissile — it must first be converted into uranium-233.

6. What is the function of the moderator in a nuclear reactor?

   • To absorb excess neutrons and stop the reaction
   • To cool the fuel rods
   • To shield workers from radiation
   • To slow down fast neutrons so they can cause further fission

   Answer: To slow down fast neutrons so they can cause further fission. Slow neutrons are more likely to split U-235. Heavy water, ordinary water and graphite are moderators; boron or cadmium control rods absorb neutrons.

7. The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in Tamil Nadu has been built with the cooperation of:

   • France
   • USA
   • Russia
   • Japan

   Answer: Russia. Kudankulam uses Russian-designed VVER pressurised water reactors under India–Russia agreements.

8. What was the code name of India's first nuclear test at Pokhran in May 1974?

   • Operation Shakti
   • Smiling Buddha
   • Operation Vijay
   • Operation Meghdoot

   Answer: Smiling Buddha. Smiling Buddha (18 May 1974) was described as a 'peaceful nuclear explosion'. Operation Shakti was the 1998 test series; Meghdoot was the 1984 Siachen operation.

9. Consider the following statements: 1. Nuclear power plants operating in India today generate electricity through nuclear fusion. 2. India is a member of ITER, an international project to build an experimental fusion reactor. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

   • 1 only
   • 2 only
   • Both 1 and 2
   • Neither 1 nor 2

   Answer: 2 only. All working power reactors use fission (splitting heavy nuclei). Fusion powers the Sun and is still experimental; India joined ITER, being built in France, in 2005.

10. Which public sector company operates most of the nuclear power reactors in India?

    • NTPC
    • BHEL
    • NPCIL
    • BHAVINI

    Answer: NPCIL. Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd runs the power reactors. BHAVINI was set up to build and run fast breeder reactors such as the PFBR at Kalpakkam.