The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has under its aegis, five Research and Development Centres, four Public Sector Undertakings, three Industrial Organisations and three Service Organisations. It also financially supports seven Research Institutes and an Education Society. Through its Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences (BRNS) and the National Board for Higher Mathematics (NBHM), DAE promotes research in nuclear and allied fields, and mathematics.

During the financial year 2002-03, DAE saw an all round growth in performance, achieved many landmarks, and its programmes took long strides. Following paragraphs give an overview of the achievements and activities of DAE organisations during the year 2002-2003.


NUCLEAR POWER PROGRAMME :PHWR PROGRAMME
The Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPCIL), a public sector undertaking of DAE, is responsible for the design, construction and operation of nuclear power reactors. The company is operating 14 ( 2 boiling water reactors and 12 PHWRs) reactors with a total capacity of 2720 MWe and has been constructing 8 reactors totalling 3,960 MWe.

NUCLEAR POWER
During the last seven years, NPCIL has been showing improved performance in terms of power generation, capacity improvement and earnings.

During the period from April 1 to December 31, 2002, the company generated 14,375 million units of electricity. It achieved an average capacity factor of 89% as compared to 85% for the preceding year.

Unit-1 of the Kakrapar Atomic Power Station (KAPS) achieved the highest ever annual capacity factor of 98% that moved it to first place in the world ranking of PHWR type reactors at the end of September 2002. KAPS-2 completed its annual maintenance shutdown in a record time of 18 days.

The NPCIL PHWRs showed a major improvement in gross capacity factor in 2002, exceeding US light water reactor performance by almost 1%.

Projects under construction

The ongoing atomic power projects, being set up at Tarapur (Maharashtra), Rawatbhata, (Rajasthan), Kaiga (Karnataka) and Kudankulam (Tamil Nadu) progressed as per schedule and achieved physical progress of 62%, 20%, 10% and 12% respectively.

The construction of Reactor Building-3 of the Tarapur Atomic Power Project-3&4 (2 x 540 MWe PHWR) reached advanced stage of construction and works of control building, turbine building etc. for the Reactor-4, made good progress.

Construction works commenced with the first pours of reactor concrete at the Kaiga, Kudankulam and Rawatbhata projects on March 30, March31 and in September 2002 respectively.

For the en-masse coolant channel replacement of MAPS-1, procurement of long delivery items and critical components were completed. The en-masse coolant channel replacement of MAPS-2 was approaching completion.

Feasibility studies of generating 700 MWe power from TAPP 3&4 type of reactor were completed by NPCIL, and work progressed on plant layout, equipment and system designs.

R&D Support to Nuclear Power
The research and development support to the PHWR programme comes mainly from BARC and IGCAR. NPCIL also pursues in-house research and development.

BARC provided extensive R&D support for the life management of coolant channels of pressurised heavy water reactors at Rawatbhata, and extension of the operating life of coolant channels of MAPS-1, and transferred manufacturing technology for advanced sealing plug to NPCIL, and setting up of an experimental facility for light water reactor studies.

FRONT -END FUEL CYCLE
The Front-End Fuel Cycle refers to the operations that range from mining, milling and processing of ore, and fabrication of fuel. In addition, heavy water production is also an ancillary programme to PHWR programme.

Surveys and Exploration of Atomic Minerals
The survey and exploration carried out by AMD included :
- Estimation of additional resources of uranium oxide at Wahkyn, Meghalaya; Rohil-Ghateshwar, Rajasthan and Gogi, Karnataka.
- Location of significant uranium mineralisation in parts of Nalgonda district, Andhra Pradesh; South Garo Hills district, Meghalaya and Korba district, Madhya Pradesh.
- Identification of new potential heavy mineral zones along the coastal tracts of Jagatsinghpur district, Orissa and inland placers in Namakkal district, Tamil Nadu.
- Estimation of additional reserves of over 3.7 tonnes of columbite-tantalite, and
- Production of over 3.8 tonnes columbite-tantalite and one tonne beryl as by-product.

Mining and Processing of Uranium Ores
UCIL’s Jaduguda Mine achieved capacity utilization of 65.8% as against 69.6% of the previous year. The decrease was due to progressive depletion of reserves. To develop the ore body at deeper levels, III-stage shaft was commissioned. Narwapahar Mine showed improved performance with capacity utilization reaching 53.6% (last year 46.7%). The capacity utilisation of Uranium Mill at Jaduguda also went up. It was 81.2% as compared to last year’s 76.9%.

Fabrication of Fuel and Structural Components
Fuel and zircaloy components for the pressurized heavy
water reactors, and other peripherals such as seamless tubes, special materials, are manufactured at the Nuclear Fuel Complex (NFC), Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh.

NFC performed exceedingly well and met all the annual production targets. Some of the plants crossed their plant capacities.

Seamless calandria tube for 500 MWe PHWR was successfully manufactured. Work continued on the projects namely Advanced Materials Processing & Character-isation Facilities, Replacement and Augmentation of Zirconium Sponge Plant, Dovetailing of 37 Element Bundle for TAPS Project, and Pilot Plant for Development of Pyrochemical Process.

Heavy Water Production
The Heavy Water Board (HWB), Mumbai is responsible for building and operating heavy water plants in the country. The Board has been operating 7 heavy water plants.

Performance and safety record of all the operating heavy water plants was excellent. As a result of stable operation and continuous run of the plants, the cumulative production achieved by the plants surpassed the scheduled targets.

Towards energy conservation, the Board expects an overall reduction in the expenditure on energy to the tune of 6-7%.

Under the Revival Project, the modifications to the Heavy Water Plant - Baroda (Phase-1) were completed and the works related to the Ammonia Water Front End (Phase II) were reaching completion. Commissioning trials will start soon.

The R&D pilot plant at Talcher that produces Di-2-ethyl hexyl phosphoric acid under the brand name “TOPS-99”, was running, satisfactorily. The product, an import substitute, was of international quality.

The plant for production of Tri-Butyl Phosphate (TBP) was approaching completion. The commissioning trial for the plant will be taken up shortly.

Phase-1 of the project taken up at the Heavy Water Plant, Manuguru for recovery of waste heat from effluent, was commissioned.

BACK -END FUEL CYCLE - PHWR

Fuel Reprocessing
The three reprocessing plants at Trombay, Tarapur and Kalpakkam performed satisfactorily. Revamping of the reprocessing plant PREFRE-1 at Tarapur progressed.

Waste Management
India is one of the very few nations in the world who have mastered the technology for vitrification of high-level radioactive waste.

For vitrification, a Waste Immobilisation Plant (WIP) using metallic induction melter technology, was commissioned at Trombay.Construction of another vitrification plant at Kalpakkam was in progress.

NUCLEAR POWER PROGRAMME – STAGE 2

FAST REACTOR PROGRAMME

Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor
With the experience gained in successful operation of Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR), the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research has designed a 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) capacity to be constructed at Kalpakkam.

Significant progress was made in the design of systems and components of nuclear steam supply system and also the balance of plant. All the conceptual design aspects of the reactor were frozen. AERB has completed its review of the preliminary safety analysis report.

The pre-project works for the construction of the reactor were in progress.

FAST REACTOR FUEL CYCLE

Fast Reactor Fuel Fabrication
Mark-I mixed carbide fuel of FBTR with high plutonium content, developed at BARC, reached a burn up of 100,000 MWD/Te Fabrication of Mark-II core was progressing.

Fabrication of experimental mixed oxide (MOX) fuel pins for 500 PFBR was approaching completion and setting up of the new facility for regular production of this fuel was in the process.

Fast Reactor Fuel Reprocessing
The commissioning of the second phase of commissioning of Lead Mini Cell set up at Kalpakkam for reprocessing of fuel of FBTR, has started.

In the Fast Reactor Fuel Reprocessing Plant (FRFRP), the first phase of cell-piping work was progressing.

A comprehensive procedure was also evolved at IGCAR for the recovery of uranium and plutonium and separation of the radioactive fission products from the spent fuel solution.

Fast Reactor Technology Development
Engineering development for design validation of PFBR continued at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research.

Sodium Water Reaction Test Facility (SOWART) was commissioned and testing of the Secondary Sodium Pump model was successfully completed and its performance was found to be satisfactory.

All the civil works for the Steam Generator Test Facility were completed. SG and the sodium-to-air heat exchanger (NAX) were erected.

The In-Sodium Testing Facility (INSOT) for characterising the fatigue and creep-fatigue interaction properties in hot flowing sodium was commissioned.

A plant for production of Boron, material used in the control of nuclear fission, was developed at Trombay.

Nitrogen alloyed, low carbon grade of type 316 SS (316LN) was developed at IGCAR in collaboration with Alloy Steel Plant, Durgapur.

Nitric Acid Loop for studying corrosion behaviour of reprocessing plant materials and a sodium loop simulating the secondary circuit conditions of PFBR to study carburisation behaviour of 316LN and modified 9Cr-1Mo were commissioned.

New electrochemical in-sodium hydrogen sensors and cover gas hydrogen meters fabricated for use in steam generator test facility (SGTF), were undergoing test. Sensitive devices were developed for on-line monitoring of oil levels.

A methodology based on ultrasonic velocity measurements was developed by IGCAR for imaging the weld profile and also for the assessment of post-weld heat treat-ment in mod. 9Cr-1Mo steel welds.

A new ultrasonic nondestructive methodology was also developed to determine the thickness of NiAl coating on Inconel-718, which is to be used for ferritic steel tube bundle support structure of steam generator.

Other developments included a methodology based on microfocal radiography and a novel remote field eddy current technique for non destructive detection and quan-tification of wall thinning and other in-service degradations that occur in modified 9Cr-1Mo tubes of the SG.

NUCLEAR POWER PROGRAMME – STAGE 3

THORIUM UTILISATION
For sustainable development, thorium utilization is the long-term objective of the Indian nuclear programme. The efforts in this direction have resulted in the successful design and operation of 30 kilowatt reactor Kamini at Kalpakkam. The technologies relating to the production of uranium-233 have been established, and thorium fuel bundles have also been successfully used in the reactors for flux flattening. These successes are now culminating towards the development of a 300 MWe Advanced Heavy Water Reactor by BARC.

During the year of report, following were the developments in the field of Thorium Utilisation:

Kalpakkam Mini Reactor (KAMINI)
At Kalpakkam, KAMINI reactor continued to operate at a nominal power of 30 kW for neutron radiography of various materials.

Advanced Heavy Water Reactor
At Trombay, the engineering development activities related to Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR) Project progressed further, and the project report for setting up of a 300 MWe AHWR was completed.

Critical Facility
The civil works of Critical Facility for conducting reactor physics experiment for AHWR and 500 MWe PHWRs continued and fabrication of critical equipment for this project reached advanced stage.

THORIUM FUEL CYCLE

Thorium Mining
Mining and processing of thorium and rare earths containing ores, found on the coastal areas of Kerala and Orissa, is done by the Indian Rare Earths Ltd. (IREL).

IREL achieved an all time high production of ilmenite. OSCOM Unit at Chhattarpur, Orissa, achieved 90% of its capacity and achieved production of 1.96 lakh tons of ilmenite.

The Company launched its first phase of capacity expansion for mineral processing, at its plants in Chavara and Manavalakurichi. It also took up the projects for zirconium hydroxide and recovery of rare elements from phosphoric acid.

Fuel Reprocessing
To separate U-233 from irradiated thorium fuel on a plant scale, a reprocessing facility at Trombay (Uranium Thorium Separ-ation Facility) became operational in August 2002. This is a vital link in the thorium fuel cycle activities.

Advanced Reactor Technology Development
BARC has been developing the compact high temperature reactor (CHTR) for use as power pack in isolated areas, and the accelerator driven subcritical system (ADSS), which is poised to provide an effective solution to nuclear waste management.

At BARC the work on high temperature reactor continued and progress was made in the design of a small compact thorium based fuel high temperature reactor (CHTR) with lead cooling to generate about 40-50 kWe of electricity.

Detailed analysis on the development of Accelerator Driven Sub-Critical Systems (ADSS) progressed and broad road map for this programme was identified.

RADIATION TECHNOLOGIES & APPLICATIONS

Research Reactors
The research reactor programme of DAE provides R&D support to nuclear power programme; produces radioisotopes, and provides facilities for research.

The research reactors Apsara and Dhruva of BARC continued to operate safely and efficiently These reactors were extensively used for basic and applied research, isotope production, material testing and manpower training.

For the first time, Plutonium-236, radiotracer useful in environmental and biological studies, was successfully produced at Trombay.

Nuclear Agriculture
The nuclear agriculture prog-ramme of DAE covers development of high yielding crop seeds, fertilizer and pesticide related studies, radiation processing of food items, and other areas.

In the field of crop improvement, BARC recorded a major success with the release of a new variety of groundnut mutant TPG-41 for commercial cultivation. This large seeded confectionery was developed by BARC in collaboration with the Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri, Maharashtra. So far 23 different crop varieties, including this variety, have been developed at Trombay.

At all India level, 4 blackgram (Urid) varieties account for over 50% of the total national breeder seed indent of all the blackgram varieties taken together. Groundnut variety TAG-24 is very popular and accounts for 11% of the national breeder seed indent.

Radiation Processing of Food
Based on the decades of the research done in BARC, in radiation processing of food items, the advantages of preservation of food by radiation processing technology have been established.

During the report period, a major event in the field of food processing was the commissioning of the 10 tonne/hr fa

cility, “KRUSHAK” - Krushi Utpadan Sanrakshan Kendra). The facility will provide radiation processing of onions at Lasalgaon, Nashik District, Maharashtra.

The Cobalt-60 strength of the Radiation Processing Plant at Vashi, Navi Mumbai, was raised to 207 kCi (kilo curie) enhancing the processing capacity of the plant to 6 MT per day. This plant, which radioprocessed spices, has been proving a boon to spice exporters.

Healthcare
Radioisotopes and their formulations find wide applications in diagnosis, therapy and healthcare. BARC supplies reactor produced radioisotopes to BRIT for processing, which produces radiopharma-ceuticals and other products, for use by the medical industry.

In the field of health care, important developments included myocardial blood flow imaging agent, technetium-99m-MIBI (Methoxy Isobutyl Isonitrile) and technology transfer of radiation-processed hydrogel for treating burn, wounds and leprosy.

For medical applications, BRIT produced and supplied radioisotope products including radiopharma-ceuticals, immunoassay kits, radio-chemicals, radiolabelled compounds and labelled nucleotides, luminous compounds and techn-etium-99m generating kits.

During the current financial year, the Board supplied 12,700 consignments of radiopharmaceutical products, 42,500 cold kits, and 7380 kits for RIA (radioimmunoassay) and IRMA, to 300 immunoassay laboratories. New products including a kit for myocardial perfusion imaging and therapeutic capsules for treatment of hyper-thyrodism and large dose thyroid scan, and synthesised Fluorescein-dUTP, were introduced.

The regional centres of BRIT at Bangalore and Delhi provided technetium-99m radiopharmaceuticals for use in hospitals of their regions. The centres at Dibrugarh and Bangalore offered radio-immunoassay service to local hospitals.

BRIT expects to supply during the current financial year radioisotopes and allied products, valued at about Rs.21 crore as against Rs. 19 crore the previous year.

In the field of radio-diagnosis and therapy, the Radiation Medicine Centre of BARC is a regional referral centre of the World Health Organisation for South East Asia. At RMC about 90,000mCi of technetium based radiopharmaceuticals are dispensed, and 8000 radiodiagnostic investigations and 9000 radioimmunoassays are carried out annually.

For diagnosis of cancer, and cardiac and neurological disorders, BARC established a medical cyclotron, coupled to a positron emission tomography (PET) scanner, at the Radiation Medicine Centre, Mumbai.

The cyclotron at Kolkata manufactures Gallium-67 radioisotope, which is processed for medical applications. At the Regional Radiation Medicine Centre at Kolkata, around 2000 patients underwent radio-imaging and around 5000 patients were treated with the medical linear accelerator.

The Tata Memorial Centre (TMC), that comprises Tata Mem-orial Hospital (TMH) and the Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC), is a grant-in-aid instit-ution of DAE. TMC offers services in diagnosis, treatment and research in cancer as well as in training and education. ACTREC, a newly setup centre at Navi Mumbai, carries out mission oriented research and development work on cancers prevalent in the Indian sub-continent.

During the report period, the Tata Memorial Hospital registered about 21,000 new cases and issued over 11,000 referral cards for various medical investigations. Its ten operation theatres and intensive care unit were furbished with the state-of-the art facilities.

TMH is now capable to offer limb salvage to patients where limb is affected by cancer. A megaprosthesis – a joint replacement called the TMH-NICE, and a proximal tibia replacement prosthesis have been developed by the hospital. Elbow and hip replacement prostheses were also developed.

To provide the benefits of state-of-the-art technology at the doorstep of villages, a Telepathology System for cross consultation of pathology slides, was introduced between TMH and Barshi village (Maha-rashtra).

Radiation Sterilization

The ISO-9002 accredited ISOMED Plant of BRIT at Trombay sterilises about 13,000 cu mt of medical products annually. From the gamma sterilization services offered by ISOMED to its customers, a revenue of Rs. 5 crore is expected during the current financial year.

Industrial applications of radioisotopes
Radiation technology covers a range of industrial applications including radiography, gamma scanning of process equipment, use of tracers to study sediment transport at ports and harbours, flow measurements, pigging of buried pipelines, water hydrology, water resource management, and many more.

For industrial and strategic applications, BARC developed a 3D cone beam tomography system with exceptionally high resolution.

BRIT processed 520 kCi (kilo curie) of Cobalt-60 activity at RAPPCOF, Kota and provided radiation sources to various users. For industrial users, at BRIT, 35 ROLI-1 cameras were undergoing fabrication.

Gamma Chamber 1200 (GC-1200) designed and developed by BRIT was type approved by AERB. One new unit of GC-5000 loaded with 12000 Ci of Cobalt-60 source was exported to the Atomic Energy Agency, Sri Lanka.

A laser welding system developed by CAT was in use for fabrication of cesium-137 brachytherapy sources.

Beam Technology Applications
Electron beam technology is finding more and more applications in the fields of industry, medicine and industry. The DAE organ-isations contributing to these fields are BARC and CAT.

The Electron beam accelerator (2 MeV, ILU-6) at Vashi, was utilised for production of various high technology products. The accelerator was undergoing upgradation for its increased utilisation.

An Electron Beam Centre, that will cater to the needs of industry, is being set up by BARC at Kharghar, Navi Mumbai. The development of a range of electron accelerators (500 KeV - 10 kW DC, 3 MeV - 30 kW DC and 10 MeV - 10 kW RF) undertaken by BARC in collaboration with SAMEER, reached advanced stage. These accelerators will be housed in the Electron Beam Centre.

BARC pursued development of two accelerators namely KALI 5000 and Linear Induction Accelerator (LIA). KALI 5000 was undergoing commissioning trials. LIA sub systems are also in the advanced stage of completion. These accelerators will be employed for producing Flash X rays & high power microwaves, which have immense applications in the industry, nuclear power sector and the strategic areas.

CAT has designed and developed a 750keV DC accelerator for industrial radiation processing. This accelerator can give 20kW electron beam power.

Laser Applications
CAT has been pursuing the programme for development of lasers for industrial and medical applications.

The lasers developed for industrial use included 20 kW continuous wave carbon dioxide (CWCO2) laser for deep penetration welding of thick metal plates, and laser surface hardening and laser cladding of engineering components. Industrial applications developed earlier at CAT were a 3.5kW industrial CW CO2 laser, a 10kW continuous laser for concrete scabbling, and TEA laser for paint stripping for decontamination application.

The surgical carbon dioxide laser system, developed at CAT, is useful for a range of surgical modalities. These systems were supplied to various hospitals in the country. CAT has signed MoU with Bharat Electronics Ltd., Pune for transfer of technology of medical carbon dioxide lasers.

For use in retinal surgery, a compact semiconductor diode laser pump Nd:YVO4 laser has been developed. This laser gives 10W of power in the infrared and 2W in the green part of spectrum.

The nitrogen laser based system developed at CAT and installed at the Government Cancer Hospital, Indore was in use to evaluate the potential of autofluorescence spectroscopy for diagnosis of the cancer of oral cavity. The new algorithm developed by CAT provided significantly improved diagnostic performance.

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS

Helium Extraction
The VECC extracted helium from the soil air close to Bakreswar hot spring, and discovered helium in the geothermal bursts in the Birbhum – Santhal Paragana geothermal area. Helium was also shown to be associated in the gases at working pitheads of coal mines in the Asansol-Raniganj area.

Seismic Array
BARC’s project for setting up twenty (24 bit) seismic field stations and transferring the data to central recording laboratory through digital wireless telemetry at Seismic Array Station, Gauribidanur, Karnataka through VSAT to Mumbai was nearing completion. The setting up of Seismic Data Centre at Mumbai progressed.

Cryo-Cooling
CAT has a programme to develop closed cycle cryo-coolers. Two cryo-coolers of single and two stages, developed at the centre registered a continuous run of several thousand hours of operation. These have produced lowest temperatures of 25K and 10K respectively. A helium compressor for these cryo-coolers was also developed.

Eco-friendly disposal of BioWaste
An advanced biogas plant Nisarg-Runa was built at Trombay. The plant generates biogas from kitchen waste and also produces green manure.

Nuclear Desalination of Water
The 1800 cubic metre/day Desalination Plant at Kalpakkam was commissioned by BARC. The plant, based on reverse osmosis (RO), has been producing potable water from seawater. For desalting seawater, construction of 4500 cubic metre/day multi stage flash evaporation plant coupled to MAPS, Kalpakkam progressed.

At Trombay, coupling of a small (30 cubic metre/day) desalination unit with CIRUS reactor using waste heat from the reactor was approaching completion.

National Security
BARC continued implementation of necessary research and development as well as manufacturing activities.

HEALTH, SAFETY & ENVIRONMENT

The safety performance of the atomic power stations continued to be excellent. The radioactive releases to the environment were much below the prescribed limits. The emergency preparedness systems in the nuclear power plants was updated.

At most of the nuclear power stations, the Environmental Management System was implemented in line with International Standards ISO-14001.

The new guidelines of AERB for the event reporting at the nuclear power plants to be classified as “significant event report” and “event report” were adopted at all the plants.

The performance and safety record of all the operating heavy water plants was excellent. Heavy Water Board has gone for international recognition through ISO certification of its heavy water plants for implementing Quality Mana-gement System (ISO-9001) and Environmental Management System (ISO-14001).

UCIL made concerted efforts towards the health, safety and environment conservation The company complied with all statutory environmental laws and works for conservation of environment.

At the NFC Facilities all the workers were monitored for uranium lung burden and values observed were within the limits.

BARC provided radiological safety support to UCIL Facilities at Jaduguda, Bhatin, Narwapahar and NFC Facilities.

At Trombay, samples of farm, dairy and meat products, bottled drinking water from export import consignments were analysed for man made radioactivity contamination and radioactivity test certification.

Under the Indian Environmental Radiation Monitoring Network (IERMON) sixteen stations were upgraded during the year with data communication facility.

As a part of environmental impact assessment of Pokhran-II test site, the activity level of natural and man made radionuclides were determined in the environmental samples collected within 20 km zone around Pokhran. The activity in different matrices was found to be same as background level activity.

At BARC, primary and secondary standards of various parameters of radiation measure-ments are maintained. It is the recognized Regional Secondary Standards Dosimetry Laboratory of IAEA/WHO. It also provides bioassay and whole body counting internal monitoring services to the radiation workers in the country.

Crisis Management
The Crisis Management Group (CMG), a standing committee of senior officials of DAE, continued to coordinate the Department’s response to a nuclear or radiological emergency in the public domain.

An Emergency Response Centre commenced working at Trombay. The centre receives radiation level data from the early warning system.

Building of a Mobile Radio-logical Laboratory was completed at Trombay. This laboratory is equipped for rapid off-site deployment (public domain) to monitor the radiological and meteorological parameters in the event of a nuclear accident or nuclear weapon explosion.

BARC participated in an international effort under IAEA to search orphan radiation sources in Georgia. For this purpose, the device developed in BARC was loaned to IAEA. The system’s performance and the contributions of the teams were applauded both by the IAEA and the Georgian authorities.

BARC Safety Council
BARC Safety Council continued its regulatory function to ensure the safety of all the plants and facilities under its purview.

BASIC RESEARCH

Synchrotrons and their utilisation
The 450MeV Synchrotron Radiation Source (SRS) Indus-1 at Indore, was operating routinely. The Reflectivity Beamline and the Angle Iintegrated Photo Electron Spectroscopy Beamline were in regular use of researchers from DAE units, academic institutions and national laboratories.

The construction of the 2.5GeV SRS Indus-2 was progressing. CAT has successfully fabricated 500 ferrite blocks of the kicker magnets for injecting the electron beam in the Indus-2 SRS. Other components and subsystems such as sputter ion pump and titanium sublimation pumps, beam position monitors, beam profile monitors, photon absorbers etc. were in various stages of completion. Indus-2 is expected to be fully assembled by end of the year 2003.

Cyclotron & their utilisation
Under the project relating to heavy ion acceleration, the Variable Energy Cyclotron was run with Oxygen and Neon beam for the experiments.

VECC is setting up a liquid helium cooled Superconducting Cyclotron to extend the scope of basic research in nuclear physics and allied sciences.

Development and fabrication work related to various systems of the Superconducting Cyclotron proceeded steadily. Basic layout of the beam lines for Superconducting Cyclotron was completed.

Radioactive Ion Beam facility
Radioactive Ion Beam facility project of VECC aims at accelerating radioactive ion beams upto the energy of 5MeV/A. A 6.4 GHz. “High B-mode” on-line ECR ion-source for Radioactive Ion Beams facility (RIB) was installed and the first ion-beam was extracted.

Fusion and other plasma technologies
During the year, Aditya tokamak set up at the Institute for Plasma Research (IPR), became operational after restoration of power from the Gujarat Electricity Board, and the major experimental work on high temperature magnetically confined plasmas continued. The tokamak was upgraded with the inclusion of auxiliary heating systems.

The work on the Steadystate Superconducting Tokamak (SST-1) was focussed to address physics and technology issues related to advanced tokamak configurations.

The erection of SST-1 machine was well under way. Various subsystems were fabricated as per design and the components and equipment were undergoing testing for integration.

Material Science
Nickel-titanium-iron shape mem-ory alloy components, developed at Trombay, passed all the stipulated airworthiness tests and were successfully used in the light combat aircraft (LCA) test flights. Aeronautical Development Agency has accepted the supply of these components for several aircrafts.

International Research Collaborations
DAE had signed an agreement with the European Organisation for Nuclear Research, CERN to contribute initially in kind USD 25 million to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The items to be supplied by DAE to LHC include super-conducting corrector magnets, quench protection system, software including control software for LHC, and expert manpower to work at CERN for magnet characterization.

As a part of DAE-CERN collaborative programmes, BARC continued to supply the specialised components/sub-systems such as silicon strip detectors for preshower radiation detection in CMS experiment at Large Hadron Collider (LHC) accelerator, Quench Heater Power Supplier for protection of super conducting magnets and the supervisory control and data acquisition systems for String-2 magnet test facility at LHC.

At VECC, work related to the fabrication, assembly, testing and installation of the Photon Multiplicity Detector (PMD) for the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at the Brook-haven National Laboratory (USA), continued. The R&D for this detector had been carried out as part of the R&D programme of ALICE PMD. The STAR PMD is made of 24 super-modules. A total of 10 super-modules were installed at the experimental site at BNL.

TIFR participated in the international collaborations at CERN and Fermilab.

SINP contributed to the international experiment ALICE progra-mme of the Brookhaven National Laboratory, USA, by successfully developing analog-digital MANAS chip for the readout electronics for all the tracking chambers.

HCRI studied the ramifications of the recent experimental results from the Japanese experiment KamLAND.

Science Research Council
DAE Science Research Council, consisting of eminent scientists, has been set up to regularly peer review basic research to ensure that highest possible level of excellence is maintained. The council met several times and reviewed basic research programmes.

RESEARCH EDUCATION LINKAGE

The Board of Research in Nuclear Science (BRNS) continued to support high quality R&D projects and laid emphasis on collaborative programmes amongst DAE organisations and the organisations outside the Department. It also provided financial assistance to organize symposia/ conferences/ workshops on topics of relevance to DAE programmes.

In the field of research, BRNS awarded DAE-Young Scientist Research Fellowships and Dr. K.S. Krishnan Research Associateship (KSKRA) to young researchers.

This year BRNS instituted DAE-BRNS Senior Scientist Scheme to utilize the expertise of retired scientists/engineers. DAE Graduate Fellowship Scheme, under which the students who are selected by IITs for admission to M.Tech prog-rammes, will be absorbed into DAE units at the level of Scientific Officer-C.

During the year 2002-03, the Board approved 69 new projects at a total financial assistance of 10.8 crore. 183 on-going projects were renewed and financial support was provided to about 100 conferences/symposia.

The major projects supported by BRNS included Seismic Test Facility at the Structural Engineering Research Centre, Chennai, and the project “Application of radiations and radiotracer techniques in agricultural research and multi-locational testing of BARC crop varieties” at the Jawaharlal Nehru Krishi Vishwa Vidyalay, Jabalpur.

To provide diagnostic facility for various animal diseases, under the “Jai Vigyan National Science and Technology Mission” a gamma scintillation camera was installed by BRNS at the Bombay Veterinary College, Mumbai. This centre, first of its kind in Asia, will provide diagnostic facility for various animal diseases.

The National Board for Higher Mathematics (NBHM) continued to carry out schemes such as helping the development of mathematical centres, giving scholarships to research fellows at doctoral and postdoctoral levels, travel assistance to young mathematicians for attending conferences/ seminars etc., Visiting Professorship, assistance for Research Project/Schemes, support to libraries, assistance to Conferences, monitoring Mathematics Olympiads, and others. During the year 2002-03, an annual budget of Rs.7.07 crore was allocated to the Board.

A major portion of the budget of the Board was released to the mathematics departments of 86 universities/institutions towards library support. In collaboration with the International Mathematical Union, NBHM also initiated schemes for making mathematical literature accessible through electronic-communication.

NBHM provided 9 new fellowships at doctoral level and 11 at post-doctoral level. In addition, 8 national and 16 international conferences relating to mathematics were partially supported by NBHM.

HRD Programmes
Construction of the residential training school complex Gurukul, an affiliate of BARC Training School being set up at Hyderabad to meet the training needs of the engineers of Nuclear Fuel Complex and Heavy Water Board, was approaching completion.

As a part of continuing collaboration between India and Vietnam in the field of nuclear sciences, “Vietnam – India Nuclear Science Centre” (VINSC), was set up at Dalat, Vietnam by BARC.

Aided Institutions
The Department has seven aided research institutions and a society which manages education for the children of DAE employees. During the financial year 2002-2003, the grant-in-aid of over Rs. 310 crore was provided by DAE to these institutions.

There has been a growing synergy between these research institutions and the Research and Development Units of the Department. Several joint projects were undertaken between the DAE units and the aided Institutions.

The Department has entered into a collaborative project “Nuclear & Biotechnological Tools in Coastal Eco System Research” undertaken by M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), Chennai at an estimated cost of Rs.3 crore.

Grant-in-aid to Cancer Hospitals
DAE has signed a “Tripartite Agreement” with the North-Eastern Council and the Government of Assam, for revitalization of the Dr. B. Barooah Cancer Institute (BBCI), Guwahati. This hospital is a regional cancer centre for cancer treatment and control in the North-Eastern Region. The Department also funded cancer hospitals in the country which support primarily small projects and radiation related equipment for cancer treatment. The financial support provided in this regard was to the tune of Rs. 4.24 crore.

TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER & COLLABORATIVE PROGRAMME

Technology Transfer
The multi-disciplinary research carried out in DAE research centres has been generating as a spin off several technologies that are transferred to industry, and provide technical services that benefit the industry.

During the report period, nine technologies developed in BARC were transferred to industry. These technologies ranged from scientific devices to the items of medical use such as hydrogel for burns and wound dressings, and to daily-use gadgets such as vibro-thermal disinfector for disinfestations of food grains and on-line domestic water purifier based on ultra-filtration. Some technologies such as electron beam welding, manipulators, and other devices were in progress.

The Technical Services offered by DAE research centres to industry were related to non-destructive test-ing, stress measurements, acoustic topography, material characterisation and others.

An online diagnostic package was developed for detecting faults in the suspension and the wheels of Railway coach on the basis of track vibration analysis.

Analytical services for determining the radioactivity content in water and export/import samples, were provided by different Environmental Survey Laboratories and Trombay to different pharmaceutical and beverage industries & export/import houses.

A delay mechanism assembly automation system for assembling of explosive part was developed and supplied to the Ammunition Factory, Kirkee, Pune.

Products Offered
BARC supplied a number of equipment to institutions, including educational institutions such as Institute of Technology for Women, SNDT University Mumbai, and IIT Kanpur, Institute of Science, Mumbai, Institute of Plasma Physics, Gandhinagar, Gujarat and Inter-University Consortium for DAE Facilities, Kolkata Centre, IIT Madras, MS University Vadodara, Bhavnagar University, and University of Roorkee.

Collaborative Programme
MoUs were signed by BARC for the development of prototype mobile robot with IIT Kanpur, and mathematical models, analysis and optimisation of magnetic circuit of magnetic jack machines and inductive proximity sensors, with IIT Delhi.

The antenna platform unit for Multi-mode Radar of Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) was under development jointly by BARC & ECIL for Aeronautical Development Authority (ADA). The first system is expected to be integrated shortly.

On the Control Electronics front, motor control digital signal processors for realising the vector control of 3-phase permanent magnet synchronous motors was success-fully deployed.

Continuing the development of Fibre Optic Gyro (FOG) based land navigation system for use in battletanks, the navigation computer card was integrated with the Inertial Measurement Units, Odometer, Display Unit and Power supply. The strap down navigation computation algorithms was successfully realised.

PUBLIC SECTOR UNDERTAKINGS

The performances of the DAE public sector undertakings namely, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd., Uranium Corporation of India Ltd., and Indian Rare Earths Ltd. have been described in earlier paragraphs. The financial performance profiles of these companies, and the performance of the Electronics Corporation of India Ltd., for the financial year 2001-02 are as follows:

Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. achieved a profit before tax (PBT) of Rs.1662 crore and paid Rs.101.50 crore as dividend to the Government of India. For the financial year 2002-03 upto December 2002, the PBT was Rs.1245 crore (Provisional).

The turnover of Uranium Corporation of India Ltd. stood at Rs.165.97 crore, and the net profit was Rs.5.88 crore which was higher by 94 % as compared to Rs.3.03 crore of the preceding year.

Indian Rare Earths Ltd.’s total turnover was Rs.225 crore, the foreign exchange earning was Rs.58 crore, and the profit-after-tax stood at Rs.38.32 crore. The Company paid a dividend of Rs.3.83 crore. The turnover for 2002-03 is expected to be around Rs.230 crore.

The Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL), a public sector undertaking of DAE, is a multi-product and multi-disciplinery organisation engaged in the areas of information technology, strategic electronics, communications, control and automation, instrum-entation and components.

ECIL recorded sales of Rs.599 crore and a profit of Rs. 79 crore. For the current year, the company booked orders worth Rs.560 crore till December 2002.

OTHER ACTIVITIES

International relations
India has been a designated member of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) since its inception and has been taking active part in policy management and programme of the agency. India continued to offer training facilities, fellowships, scientific visits, etc. to foreign scientists and provided the services of its scientists for expert assignments to other countries both through IAEA and to countries with which we have the bilateral agreements for cooperation in the field of peaceful uses of atomic energy.

Over 470 scientists from India participated in international symposia, workshops, conferences and meetings. Over 180 scientists from abroad participated in scientific conferences, symposia, meetings, workshops and training programmes.

India and the European Organ-isation for Nuclear Research (CERN) agreed to extend their 1991 cooperation agreement concerning collaborative work, in the frame-work of the development of computing and computational GRID technology for Large Hadron Collider Project by another 5 years with effect from 2002. CERN also granted the status of Observer State to India as the 6th State outside Europe.

Neighbourhood welfare activities
With the objective to deliver the technologies developed in the DAE laboratories to the people around the nuclear establishments, engaged in various activities, the Department has initiated the Neighbourhood Welfare Programme.

Under the programme, BARC is developing a 12 hectare Agriculture Research and Seed farm at Tarapur in collaboration with the Tarapur Atomic Power Station. The varieties of the crops developed in BARC will be grown in the farm to demonstrate to the local farmers their use for enhancing the agricultural production.

It is also aimed at imparting useful knowledge and information to the local farmers in the vicinity of TAPS and encouraging them to adopt newer technologies on modern agriculture developments.

At different sites, welfare activities such as eye camps, health check-ups, renovation of primary schools, providing education facilities, distribution of high yield seeds and encouraging plant visits were carried out by the atomic power stations.

Women Welfare
A women’s Cell in BARC set up in 1977, was reconstituted in March 2002. The Cell is headed by a senior woman scientist and consists of other 12 members including Counsellor. During the year a seminar on the theme ‘Profiles of Progressive Women’ was held. A Panel discussion was held and four Panel Experts from Medical, Law and Education fields participated in the same.

A new Day Care Centre is being set up at Anushaktinagar, BARC for the benefit of Departmental employees. The Centre, with the active involvement of Women’s Cell, will provide basic child-care facilities, library, play materials etc. for the overall development of the children.

The National Board for Higher Mathematics (NBHM) had set up a Committee for Promotion of Mathematics among Women. The Committee’s recommendations accepted by the Department cover travel support to a person accompanying women candidates appearing for interviews for NBHM awarded scholarships at the masters or Ph.D. entry level, award of NBHM Special Lecturership to women mathematicians (about five in a year), and Travel Grants to women to attend conferences, short term visiting programmes to universities and research institutes and special leave facilities, and creation of a few NBHM posts (each tenable for a period of three years) which will be available to women mathematicians during the process of their relocation in case of transfer of their spouses.

View from DAE pavilion at the exhibition "Pride of India" of the Indian Science Congress, held at Bangalore during January 3-7, 2003