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YEAR END REVIEW
On August 3, 2004, DAE completed 50 years of its formation. This period has seen the trend setting efforts of the Department in developing various technologies relating to nuclear and other frontline areas, and applying them for development and prosperity of the country.
DAE has developed comprehensive capabilities in the entire gamut of fuel cycle operations. India is now among the select group of countries which have the ability to recover plutonium from irradiated nuclear fuel and use it to produce power in thermal as well as in fast reactors. It is uniquely placed to utilize technologies required for launching the third stage of our nuclear power programme based on the utilization of thorium.
The Department has entered commercial domain of the second stage of its three Stage Nuclear Power Programme that aims to generate power from fast breeder reactors. This historic event took place at Kalpakkam on October 23. The event was marked by the start of construction of the first 500 MWe nuclear plant based on the fast breeder technology. Crossing this milestone, India has entered a new and more advanced stage of nuclear energy production, a technology mastered only by a very small group of countries.
All the DAE’s commercial industrial activities performed profitably with fullest possible capacity utilisation. Collectively they paid a dividend of around Rs.550 crore out of which Rs.520 crore came from Nuclear Power Corporation alone. Kakrapar Unit-II was recognised as one of world’s best power reactor by CANDU Owners’ Group.
Unit-2 of Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS-2), restarted in July 2003 after completion of en masse coolant channel replacement and system upgradation, was restored to its rated value 220 MWe.
Construction of the new nuclear power reactors progressed ahead of schedules.
Mixed carbide fuel of the Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR) continued to perform well. Successful completion of reprocessing of this fuel marked yet another important milestone.
The Heavy Water Board exported 6 MT of heavy water to South Korea and 30 MT of heavy water to China.
Exploratory and evaluation drilling resulted in augmentation of additional resources of uranium at Wahkyn in Meghalaya; Rohil-Ghateshwar in Rajasthan; Gogi in Karnataka and Koppunuru in Andhra Pradesh.
In addition to uranium ore production at Jaduguda, Narwapahar, Bhatin and Turamdih mines (all in Jharkhand), the Uranium Corporation of India Ltd., took up the work to develop mines at Banduhurang (Jharkhand), Bagjata (Jharkhand), Lambapur (Andhra Pradesh) and Domiasiat (Meghalaya).
Programme on Accelerator Driven Systems picked up as a coordinated national programme. This development is important as a means of supporting growth with thorium systems as well as for minimisation of long lived wastes through transmutation.
Remarkable progress was achieved in applications of Radioisotopes and Radiation Technology in nuclear agriculture, food preservation and industry.
The first totally private radiation processing plant named “VIKIRAN” was inaugurated in Kolkata on August 21, 2004. A number of private entrepreneurs have signed MOU with BRIT for setting up similar facilities and they are at different stages of progress.
A number of Blood Irradiator Units were sold to cancer hospitals in the country. Some radioactive cobalt-60 pencils have been exported to Canada.
A state-of-the-art telecobalt system for use in hospitals has been developed through collaborative efforts of BARC, Tata Memorial Hospital, and an industry.
Research, high quality service, training, societal outreach and international collaborations in cancer related activities under the aegis of DAE expanded. The telemedicine linkages with Regional Cancer Centres and several remote areas will soon take cancer related services closer to the doorstep of a patient in remote and rural areas.
Three industrial Nd:YAG lasers made at the Centre for Advanced Technology (CAT), Indore, Madhya Pradesh were supplied to other DAE units. A 90 watt diode pumped solid state laser was also developed at this centre for material processing applications.
The construction of the 2.5 GeV synchrotron radiation source Indus-2 made significant progress.
At the Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre (VECC), the electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) facility widened the range of heavy ions available for experiments. The work on setting up a Superconducting Cyclotron at VECC made good progress with the closing of the cryostat. Developments in Radioactive Ion Beam Facility also progressed well.
SST-1, one of the world’s first Superconducting Steady State Tokamaks, with elongated diverter plasmas with 1000 second operation capability, is getting ready at the Institute for Plasma Research, Ahmedabad.
During the year, discovery of a new pulsar was made using the Giant Metre Radio Telescope (GMRT).
As an Observer at CERN DAE’s participation in terms of supply of equipment and systems for large hadron collider (LHC) as well as its detectors CMS and ALICE, continued to grow. Indian scientists were actively involved in STAR experiments at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, USA.
India continued taking active part in policy management and programmes of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
SK/SPS/SB
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