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India’s first prototype fast-breeder reactor to be commissioned by Sept 2026
India’s first prototype fast-breeder reactor in Tamil Nadu’s Kalpakkam is expected to be commissioned next year, nearly two years after it got the go-ahead from the nuclear regulator, officials have said. The commissioning of the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) will mark the second stage of India’s three-stage nuclear programme that aims to recycle spent fuel to reduce the inventory of radioactive waste. The PFBR being developed in Kalpakkam is the first-of-its-kind nuclear reactor to use plutonium-based mixed oxide as fuel and liquid sodium as coolant. It will also utilise the spent fuel of Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors, which form the mainstay of nuclear power in India at present.
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Venice expands day-tripper tax in bid to combat over-tourism
Venice is charging day-trippers to the famed canal city an arrivals tax for the second year starting Friday, a measure aimed at combating the kind of over-tourism that put the city’s UNESCO World Cultural Heritage status at risk. A UNESCO body decided against putting Venice on its list of cultural heritage sites deemed in danger after the tax was announced. But opponents of the day-tripper fee say it has done nothing to discourage tourists from visiting Venice even on high-traffic days.
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Eight cheetahs to be brought to India from Botswana
Eight cheetahs will be brought to India from Botswana in southern Africa in two phases, including four by May, officials have said. A release from the Madhya Pradesh government said this information was given by officials of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), who took part in a review meeting of the cheetah project here on Friday in the presence of Union Minister for Environment, Forests & Climate Change Bhupender Yadav and MP Chief Minister Mohan Yadav. “Efforts are underway to bring more cheetahs from South Africa, Botswana, and Kenya to India. Eight cheetahs will be brought to India in two phases. There is a plan to bring four cheetahs from Botswana to India by May. After this, four more cheetahs will be brought. At present, consent is being developed on an agreement between India and Kenya,” the release quoted NTCA officials as saying.
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Cambodia welcomes Japanese navy ships to naval base
Two Japanese naval ships docked Saturday at Cambodia’s Ream Naval Base, whose recently completed Beijing-funded upgrade has heightened US concerns that it will be used as a strategic outpost for China’s navy in the Gulf of Thailand. The visit by the two minesweepers, the 141-metre-long Bungo and the 67-metre-long Etajima, part of the Japanese Maritime Self Defence Force, marks the first foreign navy visit since the base’s expansion project was completed earlier this month. Tokyo has developed increasingly close ties with Cambodia in recent years, seeking to offset China's influence in the region, and Cambodia invited it to make the renovated port's first port call, widely seen as an attempt to allay Washington’s concerns.
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