The launch of India's prototype fast breeder reactor (PFBR), which was expected to reach criticality in mid-2018, has been delayed again, until at least 2019. The Chairman of India's Atomic Energy Commission, in his statement at the 2018 IAEA General Conference in September said that "Our indigenously developed prototype fast breeder reactor of 500 MWe is now under going sodium commissioning. We expect criticality next year."