Kon's Lab, chapter 1: India built a reactor that makes more fuel than it burns?!

Pon bursts rightwards into the lab clutching an open newspaper while Kon turns from the workbench.

Kon! India built areactor that makesMORE fuel than itburns?! That's a scam.

Kon spins round in the orange lab chair as a bright glint flashes across the forehead goggles.

Kon-kon! It'snot a scam.It's physics.

Kon points at one small golden U-235 atom among many sleepy grey-blue U-238 giants.

1 in 140Here's the trick. In mined uranium, only1 atom in 140 can split. That's the fuel.And the other 139?Uranium-238. Lazy. It just sits there.

A glowing plutonium atom splits into two abstract fragments as exactly three tiny neutron runners sprint outward; one returns toward another fuel atom.

In this reactor,plutoniumsplits and firesout about 3fast neutrons.

Two spare runners strike blanket giants; one awakens glowing orange.

One keeps the chaingoing. A spare one hitsa lazy uranium-238…and turns it into newplutonium!

The campfire dries wet logs. The nearest dry logs glow. Pon looks shocked. Kon holds up one finger.

So it's free energy?!No. It turns lazy uranium into fuelwhile it burns. Burn one plutonium,make a little more than one.

Pon proudly carries a bucket of water rightward along the safety catwalk toward the reactor.

It's hot. I'll cool it down!

Kon dives rightward to stop Pon before the bucket reaches the reactor.

NO!Water slows the neutrons,and this reactor needs themfast. So it uses liquid sodium,and sodium explodes in water!

The huge Thorium giant sleeps across a tropical beach beside a tiny pile of grey uranium pebbles.

Why does India care? It has a little uranium… and a LOT of thorium.

Pon pokes the huge sleeping Thorium giant gently with a stick as its sleepy breath puffs outward.

So burn the thorium!Thorium is lazy too. It needs neutrons to wake it up.

Three relay runners progress across the track: the heavy water reactor trails, the fast breeder carries the baton, and Thorium sleeps at the finish.

So in the 1950s, India planned a relay. Stage 1 makesplutonium. Stage 2 multiplies it. Stage 3 wakes the thorium.1 · normalreactors2 · fastbreeder3 · thorium

The huge green Thorium giant opens one eye.

A breeder can also turnthorium into uranium-233.That's the fuel for stage 3.

A generic reactor dome glows under the night sky with a broad blank news ribbon above it.

FIRST CRITICALITY · 6 APRIL 2026This 500-megawatt reactorat Kalpakkam started itschain reaction this April. Nextcomes power to the grid.They started building it in 2004?!Good physics takes time.

Pon eats a rice cracker with an impressed expression while Kon grins beside him.

So India has beenplaying a 70-year game.And stage 2 just began. Follow forpart 2: how stage 3 runs on thorium!

Chapter 1: India built a reactor that makes more fuel than it burns?!

India built a reactor that makes more fuel than it burns?!