The Beloyarsk Nuclear Plant is the only commercially operating fast breeder reactor in the world. Developed over more than 20 years, it started producing power since October 2016. The reactor produces over 800 MW of power.

Fast breeder reactors produce more fuel than they consume. They are also considered safer than other reactors, say experts as they are less prone to accidents.

While the technology is not mainstream yet, it is expected to take off in the coming decades as the world grapples harder with growing stockpiles of nuclear waste.

Plutonium, the by-product of conventional nuclear reactors, is fast becoming a problem. A 1,000-megawatt reactor produces 27 tons of spent fuel a year.

But the radioactive material takes more than a million years to be degenerate naturally. Being the key raw material for atomic bombs, it is also in danger of theft by terror groups.

For now, it is costing the world billions of dollars to safeguard the Plutonium waste from conventional reactors.

Fast breeders use plutonium and waste uranium -- which cannot be used to power a nuclear reactor -- and converts back into usable uranium.

Russia is a global leader in Fast breeder reactors. India is a close second and China is aggressively trying to catch up. US relies exclusively on conventional atomic reactors.

India's very own Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor is ready to be started this year. The 500 MW reactor -- located at Kalpakkam near Chennai - was built after a 15-year effort led by the Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research at Kalpakkam.