Bhabha Atomic Research Centre
Encyclopedia
The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) is India
's primary nuclear research facility based in Mumbai
. It has a number of nuclear reactor
s, all of which are used for India's nuclear power
and research programme.
BARC was started in 1954, as the Atomic Energy Establishment,the Trombay
(AEET), and became India's primary nuclear research centre, taking over charge of most nuclear scientists that were at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
. After Homi J. Bhabha
's death in 1966, the centre was renamed as the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre.
The first reactors at BARC and its affiliated power generation centres were imported from the west. India's first power reactors, installed at the Tarapur Atomic Power Plant (TAPP) were from the United States
.
The primary importance of BARC is as a research centre. The BARC and the Indian government has consistently maintained that the reactors are used for this purpose only: Apsara (1956; named by the then Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru
when he likened the blue Cerenkov radiation to the beauty of the Apsaras (Indra
's court dancers), CIRUS (1960; the "Canada-India Reactor" with assistance from Canada
), the now-defunct ZERLINA (1961; Zero Energy Reactor for Lattice Investigations and Neutron Assay), Purnima I (1972), Purnima II (1984), Dhruva
(1985), Purnima III (1990), and Kamini
.
The plutonium used in India's 1974 nuclear test carried out in Pokhran in the Thar desert of Rajasthan
(Peaceful Nuclear Explosion) came from CIRUS. The 1974 test (and the 1998 tests that followed) gave Indian scientists the technological know-how and confidence not only to develop nuclear fuel for future reactors to be used in power generation and research, but also the capacity to refine the same fuel into weapons-grade fuel to be used in the development of nuclear weapons.
BARC is also responsible for India's first PWR at Kalpakkam, a 80MW land based prototype of INS Arihant's nuclear power unit, as well as the Arihant's power pack itself.
(NPT), citing concerns that it unfairly favours the established nuclear powers, and provides no provision for complete nuclear disarmament. Indian officials argued that India's refusal to sign the treaty stemmed from its fundamentally discriminatory character; the treaty places restrictions on the nonnuclear weapons states but does little to curb the modernization and expansion of the nuclear arsenals of the nuclear weapons states.
More recently, India and the United States signed an agreement to enhance nuclear cooperation between the two countries, and for India to participate in an international consortium on fusion research, ITER
(International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) so there are signs that the west wants to bring India in the Nuclear mainfold. India is the only country to be given such a status due to its impeccable record of Nuclear non proliferation.
at the Gamma Gardens, and has developed numerous disease resistant and high-yielding crop varieties, particularly groundnuts. There is also a great deal of research in Liquid Metal Magnetohydrodynamics for power generation. Recruitment in BARC is done mainly through its training school(OCES) as group A officers of the government of India.Many crucial decisions are taken by some privileged senior officers in this center.Trombay council and trombay scientific council is the names given to this group of privileged officers. Safety record of the chemistry laboratory in this organisation got a jolt recently.Lured by the media hyped reputation of this organisation two chemistry Ph D students paid a big price with their lives.They got burnt in apparently what is claimed as an accident in the chemistry laboratories of this institution.
On 4 June 2005, with the goal of encouraging research in basic sciences, BARC started the Homi Bhabha National Institute
. Research institutions affiliated to BARC(Bhabha Atomic Research Centre) include IGCAR (Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research), RRCAT (Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology
), and VECC (Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre
).
Power projects that have benefited from BARC expertise but which fall under the NPCIL (Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited) are KAPP (Kakrapar Atomic Power Project), RAPP (Rajasthan Atomic Power Project), and TAPP (Tarapur Atomic Power Project).
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
's primary nuclear research facility based in Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
. It has a number of nuclear reactor
Nuclear reactor
A nuclear reactor is a device to initiate and control a sustained nuclear chain reaction. Most commonly they are used for generating electricity and for the propulsion of ships. Usually heat from nuclear fission is passed to a working fluid , which runs through turbines that power either ship's...
s, all of which are used for India's nuclear power
Nuclear power
Nuclear power is the use of sustained nuclear fission to generate heat and electricity. Nuclear power plants provide about 6% of the world's energy and 13–14% of the world's electricity, with the U.S., France, and Japan together accounting for about 50% of nuclear generated electricity...
and research programme.
History
Trombay
Trombay is a northeastern suburb in Mumbai, India, with Mankhurd as the closest railway station on the Harbour Line of the Mumbai Suburban Railway.-History:...
(AEET), and became India's primary nuclear research centre, taking over charge of most nuclear scientists that were at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
The Tata Institute of Fundamental Research is a research institution in India dedicated to basic research in mathematics and the sciences. It is a Deemed University and works under the umbrella of the Department of Atomic Energy of the Government of India. It is located at Navy Nagar, Colaba, Mumbai...
. After Homi J. Bhabha
Homi J. Bhabha
Homi Jehangir Bhabha, FRS was an Indian nuclear physicist and the chief architect of the Indian atomic energy program...
's death in 1966, the centre was renamed as the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre.
The first reactors at BARC and its affiliated power generation centres were imported from the west. India's first power reactors, installed at the Tarapur Atomic Power Plant (TAPP) were from the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
The primary importance of BARC is as a research centre. The BARC and the Indian government has consistently maintained that the reactors are used for this purpose only: Apsara (1956; named by the then Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru , often referred to with the epithet of Panditji, was an Indian statesman who became the first Prime Minister of independent India and became noted for his “neutralist” policies in foreign affairs. He was also one of the principal leaders of India’s independence movement in the...
when he likened the blue Cerenkov radiation to the beauty of the Apsaras (Indra
Indra
' or is the King of the demi-gods or Devas and Lord of Heaven or Svargaloka in Hindu mythology. He is also the God of War, Storms, and Rainfall.Indra is one of the chief deities in the Rigveda...
's court dancers), CIRUS (1960; the "Canada-India Reactor" with assistance from Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
), the now-defunct ZERLINA (1961; Zero Energy Reactor for Lattice Investigations and Neutron Assay), Purnima I (1972), Purnima II (1984), Dhruva
Dhruva reactor
The Dhruva reactor is India's largest nuclear research reactor. Located in the Mumbai suburb of Trombay at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre , it is India's primary generator of weapons-grade plutonium-bearing spent fuel for its nuclear weapons program. Originally named the R-5, this pool-type...
(1985), Purnima III (1990), and Kamini
Kamini
Kamini, as a name, can refer to:* A settlement and port on the island of Hydra in Greece* Kamini , a French rapper* KAMINI, a research reactor in India* Kamini Yacht Club, an international yacht club* Kamini Roy, a Bengali poet and feminist...
.
The plutonium used in India's 1974 nuclear test carried out in Pokhran in the Thar desert of Rajasthan
Rajasthan
Rājasthān the land of Rajasthanis, , is the largest state of the Republic of India by area. It is located in the northwest of India. It encompasses most of the area of the large, inhospitable Great Indian Desert , which has an edge paralleling the Sutlej-Indus river valley along its border with...
(Peaceful Nuclear Explosion) came from CIRUS. The 1974 test (and the 1998 tests that followed) gave Indian scientists the technological know-how and confidence not only to develop nuclear fuel for future reactors to be used in power generation and research, but also the capacity to refine the same fuel into weapons-grade fuel to be used in the development of nuclear weapons.
BARC is also responsible for India's first PWR at Kalpakkam, a 80MW land based prototype of INS Arihant's nuclear power unit, as well as the Arihant's power pack itself.
India and the NPT
India is not a part of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation TreatyNuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, commonly known as the Non-Proliferation Treaty or NPT, is a landmark international treaty whose objective is to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and weapons technology, to promote cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy and to...
(NPT), citing concerns that it unfairly favours the established nuclear powers, and provides no provision for complete nuclear disarmament. Indian officials argued that India's refusal to sign the treaty stemmed from its fundamentally discriminatory character; the treaty places restrictions on the nonnuclear weapons states but does little to curb the modernization and expansion of the nuclear arsenals of the nuclear weapons states.
More recently, India and the United States signed an agreement to enhance nuclear cooperation between the two countries, and for India to participate in an international consortium on fusion research, ITER
ITER
ITER is an international nuclear fusion research and engineering project, which is currently building the world's largest and most advanced experimental tokamak nuclear fusion reactor at Cadarache in the south of France...
(International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) so there are signs that the west wants to bring India in the Nuclear mainfold. India is the only country to be given such a status due to its impeccable record of Nuclear non proliferation.
Civilian research
The BARC also conducts research in biotechnologyBiotechnology
Biotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...
at the Gamma Gardens, and has developed numerous disease resistant and high-yielding crop varieties, particularly groundnuts. There is also a great deal of research in Liquid Metal Magnetohydrodynamics for power generation. Recruitment in BARC is done mainly through its training school(OCES) as group A officers of the government of India.Many crucial decisions are taken by some privileged senior officers in this center.Trombay council and trombay scientific council is the names given to this group of privileged officers. Safety record of the chemistry laboratory in this organisation got a jolt recently.Lured by the media hyped reputation of this organisation two chemistry Ph D students paid a big price with their lives.They got burnt in apparently what is claimed as an accident in the chemistry laboratories of this institution.
On 4 June 2005, with the goal of encouraging research in basic sciences, BARC started the Homi Bhabha National Institute
Homi Bhabha National Institute
The Homi Bhabha National Institute, / होमी भाभा राष्ट्रीय संस्थान is a prestigious Indian deemed university, which unifies 10 Constituent Institutions :* 4 Premier centers* 6 Premier autonomous institutes,...
. Research institutions affiliated to BARC(Bhabha Atomic Research Centre) include IGCAR (Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research), RRCAT (Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology
Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology
The Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology is a unit of Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India, engaged in R&D in non-nuclear front-line research areas of Lasers, Particle Accelerators and related technologies....
), and VECC (Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre
Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre
The Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre is a research and development unit of the Indian Department of Atomic Energy. The VECC, located in Calcutta, India, performs research in basic and applied nuclear sciences. The Centre houses a 224 cm cyclotron—the first of its kind in India—which has been...
).
Power projects that have benefited from BARC expertise but which fall under the NPCIL (Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited) are KAPP (Kakrapar Atomic Power Project), RAPP (Rajasthan Atomic Power Project), and TAPP (Tarapur Atomic Power Project).
| CAPITAL | REVENUE | TOTAL | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PLAN | NON-PLAN | PLAN | NON-PLAN | ||
| Budget estimates 2007-2008 | 629.10 | 0.00 | 13.66 | 632.29 | |
| Final grant 2007-2008 | 610.00 | 0.00 | 21.04 | 693.02 | |
| Actual exp. 2007-2008 | 599.61 | 0.00 | 19.33 | 683.16 | |
| Budget estimates 2008-2009 | 630.10 | 0.00 | 23.45 | 707.60 | |
| Actual exp. 2008-2009 (Up to May 2008) | 55.53 | 0.00 | 4.63 | 154.54 | |