Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) is a premier Indian nuclear research centre located in Kalpakkam, India. It is the second largest establishment of the Department of Atomic Energy, after Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC). It was formed as Reactor Research Centre (RCC) on April 30, 1971 by an executive order by Vikram Sarabhai, the then Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission. It was renamed to its current name in December 1985 by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. The centre was originally established under the aegis and vision of Sarabhai as a space directed towards the development of fast breeder reactor technology in India, as part of the three-stage nuclear power program. Today, the centre is engaged in a multidisciplinary research programme in various scientific and advanced engineering fields coordinating with the primary nuclear energy research.
History
Origins and creation of Reactor Research Centre (RRC) In the 1950s, Homi Bhabha formulated the Indian three-stage nuclear power programme, with aims to prepare the country for the utilization of its extensive thorium reserves and provide energy security for the 21st century. Through the 1960s as part of the second stage of the programme, fast-reactor based research was begun at BARC, Mumbai. But India still lacked a dedicated centre focused on fast reactor science. After Bhabha's death in 1966, Vikram Sarabhai took over as Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission and argued for an acceleration of India's fast reaction development rather than rely on foreign know-how, which was politically and technologically sensitive. Acting on his vision, Sarabhai approved setting up of a dedicated fast-reactor centre at Kalpakkam, about 80 km south of Chennai. The Reactor Research Centre was formally established on April 1971 through an executive order signed by Sarabhai as Chairman of the AEC. wo develop fast breeder reactor technology that can breed more fissile material than it consumes, facilitating the transition to thorium-based reactors in the third stage.
Fast Breeder Test Reactor and expansion of centre From its beginning, IGCAR's central project was the Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR), a sodium‑cooled test reactor conceived both as a technology demonstrator and as an irradiation facility for fuels and structural materials. With a basic concept drawn from the French RAPSODIE design, the FBTR was modified significantly by Indian engineers. On October 1985, the FBTR achieved its first criticality, making India the seventh nation to possess fast breeder reactor technology. In October of that same year it was renamed as Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research. By this time, the campus had grown into a multi-disciplinary research centre where, in addition to FBTR, there were various labs in radiochemistry, electronics and instrumentation, safety research and auditoriums supporting scientific life at Kalpakkam. This aided research into frontier physics where developments in SQUID devices, high-pressure diamond-anvil setups and high-power physics experiments on the FBTR began to appear. By the early 1990s, IGCAR’s reprocessing wing had moved from flow‑sheet development to significant radioactive operations. Moreover, the centre broadened into materials science and condensed-matter research.
Shift towards PFBR and current developments Experience from FBTR operations fed directly into the design of a commercial‑scale fast reactor: work on what became the 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) was underway, with IGCAR’s Reactor Design Group leading the design studies. In 1996, the Kalpakkam Mini Reactor (KAMINI) reached criticality. As India’s nuclear programme matured, the government chose to separate research and power‑generation roles: a public‑sector utility, BHAVINI, was created in 2003 to build and operate PFBR and future fast‑breeder power reactors, while IGCAR retained responsibility for design, R&D, and technical support. Construction of PFBR began in 2004 and a BARC Training School was started in 2006. In the later 2000s and 2010s, IGCAR added new experimental and pilot‑scale facilities covering the entire fast‑reactor fuel cycle. CORAL (a compact reprocessing facility) and a demonstration fast-reactor fuel reprocessing plant dedicated in 2024 was developed to handle high-burn-up FBTR fuel. In May of that same year, C G Karhadkar took over as the director of IGCAR. In 2025, the United States lifted its decades-old restrictions on IGCAR along with other DAE-owned centres, facilitating energy co-operation between the two nations.
Major reactors
Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR) The Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR) is IGCAR's flagship facility and a cornerstone of India's fast reactor programme. It is a sodium-cooled fast breeder reactor, maintained by the Reactor Operation and Maintenance Group (ROMG). It has a 40 MWt thermal and 13.2 MWe electrical power, achieving its first criticality on October 1985.
KAMINI Reactor The Kalpakkam Mini Reactor (KAMINI) is a 30 kWt research reactor that achieved first criticality on October 29, 1996. KAMINI holds the distinction of being the world's first and only reactor designed specifically to use uranium-233 fuel, making it a pioneering facility in thorium-based fuel cycle research.
Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) PFBR is a 500 MWe reactor which is being constructed and commissioned by BHAVINI at Kokkilamedu, near Kalpakkam. It is a pool-type, sodium-cooled fast breeder reactor that uses Uranium-Plutonium Mixed Oxide as its fuel. As of 2025, the PFBR is under advanced stages of commissioning, with fuel loading operations underway. In addition, the Research Facility also built the 100MWe reactor for India's first nuclear submarine the Arihant class submarine project and operated it on land for testing purposes since it attained criticality in December 2004. The submarine launched on 26 July 2009 has this reactor.
Research groups and laboratories
Reactor Engineering and Technology The Fast Reactor Technology Group (FRTG) is a major group engaged in:
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