Techno-economic studies going on whether to rehabilitate it CHENNAI: The first reactor at the Rajasthan Atomic Power Station, the RAPS-1 at Rawatbhatta, near Kota, has been shut down permanently since October 2004. The natural uranium fuel has been taken out of the reactor, and the heavy water, which acted as both coolant and moderator, drained from it. The 100 MWe reactor has not been decommissioned though. The reactor has had a chequered history since it started generating commercial electricity in December 1973. The Government of India has appointed a committee to go into the techno-economic feasibility of reviving the reactor or the methodology of decommissioning it, entombment and so on. A former Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission said,