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ANNUAL REPORT1993-94

original contains

GOVERNMENT OF INDIADIvPAKTMKXT OI ATOMIC KXliKGY

COVER

The pictures on the front cover represent someof the programmes of the Department namely

robotics and automation, lasers, mineralexploration, cosmic research, fuel fabrication,

heavy water production, radioisotopeproduction for nuclear medicine, agriculture,

industry and research, and nuclear powergeneration.

Back side of the cover shows researchreactors Dhruva and Cirus which have been

producing radioisotopes for use in agriculture,medicine, industry and research.

CONTENTS

Kakrapar Atomic Power Station

• The Department• Power Sector• Programme Profile• Highlights• Power Generation• Power Projects• New Starts• Heavy Water• Atomic Minerals• Nuclear Fuels• Advanced Fuels• Fuel Reprocessing

12337

10131317202224

Radioisotope imaging using gamma camera atRadiation Medicine Centre, Bombay

• Waste Management• Safety & Environment

Protection• Advanced Reactors• Research Reactors• Radioisotope Production• Radioisotopes in Industry• Radiation Medicine• Nuclear Agriculture• High Technology• Accelerator Programme• Laser Programme

2426

293233353540434547

51

Multibeam Carbon dioxide laser developed byCAT, Indore

• Research in BasicSciences

» Technology Transfer• Uranium Corp. of India Ltd.• Indian Rare Earths Ltd.• Electronics Corp. of

India Ltd.• Financial Support• Aided Institutes• Services• Other Activities

1INTRODUCTION

The activities of the DAEorganisations broadly fall under thethree sectors namely the generationof electricity, research anddevelopment, and industrial &minerals sector.

1 1 The Department

The Department of Atomic Energy(DAE) is responsible for execution ofthe policies of the Atomic EnergyCommission that aim at using atomicenergy for electricity generation, andnon-electricity applications such asmedicine, agriculture and food tech-nology, industry and research. DAE isthe apex organisation'Of the countryin international matters connectedwith atomic energy. Its activities alsoencompass financial support to re-search in nuclear science and build-ing up trained manpower for develop-ment of atomic energy programme.

The Department has in its folds fiveresearch centres, six aided researchinstitutes, three industrial units, fourpublic sector companies, and ser-vice organisations.

The activities of the DAE organisa-tions broadly fall under the three sec-tors namely the generation of elec-tricity, research and development,and industrial & minerals sector.

1.1.1 Power Sector

Spearheading the power sector, isthe Nuclear Power Corporation of In-dia Ltd. (NPCIL) - a public sector

company of the Department - which isresponsible for designing, buildingand operation of nuclear powerplants. This is supported by the Nuc-lear Fuel Complex (NFC) which fabri-cates nuclear fuels and related com-ponents, and the Heavy Water Board(HWB) which produces heavy waterfor the Indian pressurised heavy wa-ter reactors (PHWRs).

The research and developmentsupport to the power sector, such asreactor engineering, development ofmaterials and fuels, fuel reproces-sing, waste management and others,comes from BARC. The Atomic

ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION

DEPARTMENT OF ATOMIC ENERGY

R & D SECTOR

Bhabha AtomicResearch Centre

Indira Gandhi Centrefor Atomic Research

Centre for AdvancedTechnology

Variable EnergyCyclotron Centre

Atomic Minerals Division

lUd.

Electronic Corp. ofIndia Ltd.

Indian Rare Earths Ltd.Uranium Corporationof India Limited

(SERVICES & $UPPORt|SECTOR

Nuclear Fuel Complex

Board of Radiation &Isotope Technology

• Directorate ofPurchase & Stores

• Construction &Services Group

• Directorate of EstateManagement

• General ServicesOrganisation

Q 2HI £LoQ<5

\ \

• Tata Institute ofFundamentalResearch

• Tata Memorial Centre

• Saha Institute ofNuclear Physics

• Institute of Physics

• Mehta ResearchInstitute of Maths &Maths Physics

• Institute ofMathematical Sciences

• Atomic EnergyEducation Society ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE

Gulmarg

Nangal *(3)

Atomic EnergyEstablishments

in India

(4)•k Narora

(5)

(7) r

> * Baroda

(6)•k Indore

A(iO)*Tarapur

Bombay f W

(12)5*: Thai

Turamdih * r\ '(30) (31)

Jaduguda Bhatin * -fc Calcuttay — \ JL.(2

Narwapahar "

• ^ (27)*Talcher

(15)ir Bangalo

(16) • Mysore(22)*/Kalpakkam

i Chavaraf

ManavalakuruchjJJT (20)

Public Sector Undertakings' Units

Indian Rate Earths Ltd. (11)• Rare Earths Plant (17)• Minerals Separation Plant (18, 19)•Orissa Sands Complex (OSCOM) (25)

Electronics Corporation of India Ltd. (23)Nuclear Power Corporation ofIndia Ltd. (11)

• Nuclear Power Plants &Projects (4, 5.8,10,13,20,22)

Uranium Corporation ofIndia Ltd. (20,20, 30)

uvveiopnwni

Atomic Minerals QMisionBhabha Atomte Research Cen&s

•Hiah Attitude ReeserchLaboratory /

• Nuclear Research Laboratory• Power Reactor FuelReprocessing Rant

•Rare Minerals Plant• Radiation Medicine Centre•Seismic Station•Warts Immobilisation

Centre for Advance TechnologyIndira Qandhi Centre tor Atomic

«S)(»)

Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre

(D

(10)

(11)

(10)(6)

(22)(31)

( 3 2 ) *

Industrial Sector

Board of Radiation &Isotope Technology (11)

•ISOMED Plant (11)• Radio PharmaceuticalLaboratories (11,15,32)

• Jonaki Laboratory (23)Heavy Water Board (11)

• Heavy Water Plants(3,5,7,9.12,21,24,27)

Nuclear Fuel Complex (23)

Aided InstitutesInstitute of Physics (26)Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics (31)Tata Institute of FundamentalResearch (11)Tata Memorial Centre (11)

Support & ServicesConstruction & Services Group (11)Directorate of Purchase & Stores (11)Directorate of Estate Management (11)

The research centres of DAE areengaged in the multidisciplinaryresearch in hightech areas.

The Department has successfullyachieved technical capability in thedesign, construction and operation ofPHWR reactors.

Minerals Division (AMD) explores foratomic minerals.

1.1.2 ResearchSector

& Development

The organisations that meet themultidisciplinary research needs ofthe atomic energy programme are theBhabha Atomic Research Centre(BARC) at Trombay (Maharashtra),the Indira Gandhi Centre for AtomicResearch (IGCAR) at Kalpakkam(Tamilnadu).the Centre for AdvancedTechnology (CAT) at Indore (MadhyaPradesh) and the Variable EnergyCyclotron Centre (VECC) at Calcutta(West Bengal).

The research at BARC envelopesall the aspects of nuclear scienceand technology related to reactors,accelerator, nuclear materials andfuels, fuel reprocessing, waste man-agement; hitech areas such as las-ers, robotics, automation, supercon-ductivity, instrumentation, productionof radioisotopes and their applica-tions in medicine, agriculture andother areas.

IGCAR is engaged in the develop-ment of sodium cooled fast reactortechnology including all the aspectsof its fuel cycle and associated safetyaspects.

The thrust areas of research at CATare the lasers, accelerators, highvacuum technology, cryogenics andtechnology for manufacture of largemagnets.

The Variable Energy CyclotronCentre (VECC) is a national facility. Itdelivers beams of proton, deutron,alpha particle for research in nuclearphysics and also produces isotopessuch as gallium-67.

1.1.3 Industrial Sector

The industrial organisations of DAEare the Heavy Water Board (HWB),Bombay, Nuclear Fuel Complex(NFC), Hyderabad, and the Board ofRadiation and Isotope Technology(BRIT), Bombay. Heavy water is themain-stay of the Indian PHWRs whichuse it as moderator and coolant. TheHeavy Water Board is responsible forplanning and production of heavywater for meeting the requirements ofnuclear power stations and reactorsin India. NFC meets the fuel needs ofthe Indian reactors and also pro-duces zirconia components, blanketfuel containing thoria pellets, andnickel and steel reflector assembliesfor Fast Breeder Reactors (FBR) andspecial materials. BRIT operates pro-duction facilities such as Isopharm atNew Bombay and Jonaki at Hyder-abad including the regional centresfor radiopharmaceuticals at Banga-lore and Delhi, Radioimmunoassay(RIA) Centre at Dibrugarh and theIsomed plant at Trombay.

1.1.4 Support to Research

The fully funded research institu-tions of DAE engaged in basic re-̂search in nuclear and allied sciencesare the Tata Institute of FundamentalResearch (TIFR) and Tata MemorialCentre (TMC) at Bombay, Saha Insti-tute of Nuclear Physics at Calcutta,and the Institute of Physics atBubaneshwar. The Department alsogives project linked financial assist-ance to research and developmentwork in various disciplines in univer-sities and academic institutions. TheInstitute of Mathematical Sciences,Madras, Mehta Research Institute ofMathematics and Mathematical Sci-

ences, Allahabad and National Boardof Higher Mathematics Bombay arealso supported by DAE.

1.1.5 Public Sector Undertakings

Besides NPCIL, the public sectorcompanies under the aegis of theDAE are the Uranium Corporation ofIndia Ltd. (UCIL), the Indian RareEarths Ltd. (IREL) and the ElectronicsCorporation of India Ltd. (ECIL). UCILis engaged on mining and proces-sing of uranium, while IREL minesand processes mineral sands con-taining thorium and rare earth miner-als. ECIL meets the control and in-strumentation requirements of DAEorganisations in addition to cateringto the needs of other organisations.

1.1.6 Services

The Directorates for Purchase andStores, Estate Management, Con-struction & Services Group all atBombay, and General Service Orga-nisation, Kalpakkam manage purch-ase and stores, estate, constructionand maintenance of buildings, andsupporting services at Kalpakkam.

1.2 Programme Profile

DAE's three-stage nuclear powerprogramme envisages use of naturaluranium fuel based pressurisedheavy water reactors (PHWRs) in thefirst stage and plutonium and ura-nium-233 fuels based power reactorsin the second and third stages re-spectively.

The Department has successfullyachieved technical capability in thedesign, construction and operation ofPHWR reactors of the first stage of theNuclear Power Programme. Selfre-

Selfreliance has been achieved in allthe segments of nuclear fuel cyclecovering exploration, mining, fuelfabrication, designing, building andoperation of nuclear power reactors,reprocessing, and wastemanagement.

Eight heavy water plants are oper-ational at Nangal, Baroda, Tuticorin,Kota, Talcher, Thai, Hazira andManuguru. Plants at Kota and Manu-guru are based on the technologydeveloped at BARC. With the exper-tise developed in this field, DAE isnow confidently seeking export ave-nues.

The complete expertise for fuel fab-rication and related components isavailable under one roof at NFC. De-velopment of new fuels is a thrustarea of the Indian Atomic EnergyProgramme.

With the successful operation ofFast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR) atKalpakkam, the second stage of thenuclear power programme has com-menced. FBTR fuel is made of mixeduranium-plutonium carbide de-veloped indigenously at BARC. Such

Nuclear Power Stations

• In operation• Under Construction• New Starts

liance has been achieved in all thesegments of nuclear fuel cycle cover-ing exploration, mining, fuel fabrica-tion, designing, building and opera-tion of nuclear power reactors, repro-cessing, and waste management.

In addition to the two boiling waterreactors at Tarapur, seven PHW reac-tors have been in operation at Rawat-bhata (Rajasthan), Kalpakkam(Tamilnadu), Narora (Uttar Pradesh)and Kakrapar (Gujarat). The countryhas a total of 1720MWe installed nuc-lear power capacity. To this another220MWe will be added shortly withthe commissioning of the secondreactor at Kakrapar. Four more reac-tors of 220 MWe each are being builtat Rawatbhata and Kaiga (Karnata-ka). The design of 220MWe PHWRhas been standardised and PHWR of500MWe capacity is being de-veloped.

5?'

Kudamkulam

a fuel core has been used in a fastbreeder for the first time in the world.A prototype fast breeder reactor(PFBR) of 500 MWe is also beingdeveloped.

The Department has also takenstride towards the third stage of itsnuclear power programme. Uranium-233 based fuel has successfully beendeveloped and work has commencedon the design of Advanced HeavyWater Reactor (AHWR) which willmake use of thorium in power genera-tion.

Atomic energy has been used innon-electricity applications in thefields of medicine, agriculture, indus-try and research. BARC has madesubstantial contribution to the de-velopment and promotion of radioiso-tope and radiation applications. It isa major producer of radioisotopesand allied products which find ap-plications in industry, medicine, agri-culture and research. The Board ofRadiation and Isotope Technology(BRIT) processes and suppliesradioisotope based products and

equipment for use in diagnosis andtreatment of diseases, industry andresearch. The radiopharmaceuticalssupplied by BRIT are used in about6.5 lakh investigations. Medical in-dustry is a major beneficiary of BRIT'sradiation sterilization service.Radiodiagnosis and radiotherapy ofcancer are offered by the TMC.

In the field of agriculture, BARChas developed improved varieties ofpulses, rice, groundnut, and others. Ithas established irradiation technolo-gy for preservation of food. Irradiationof sea food, spices and onions hasbeen approved by the Governmentfor export purposes.

The research centres of DAE areengaged in the multidisciplinary re-search in hightech areas. The ap-plied research programmes coverlaser, accelerators, materials,cryogenics, computers, tissue cul-ture, robotics, superconductivity andothers. The basic research is done infields such as mathematics, nuclearand allied sciences, materials,astrophysics etc.

Kakrapar Atomic Power Station Heavy Water Plant at Hazira

2HIGHLIGHTS

Following are the highlight of acti-vities of the Department during theyear 1993-94:

The NPCIL posted a profit of aboutRs. 90 crores for the year 1992-93.The cumulative power generationfrom all the operating stations till De-cember 1993 was over 87,200 millionunits (MUs). During 1993-94, Unit-1of Kakrapar Atomic Power Station(KAPS) was declared commercial onMay 5, 1993. The total power genera-tion is estimated to reach 5,500 MUs.Unfortunately, a fire incident tookplace at the Unit-1 of Narora AtomicPower Station (NAPS) which affectedoperation of both the reactor units ofNAPS and hence the total perform-ance. During the fire incident, thereactor safety system performed asper design intent.

During the year, almost all theheavy water plants performed satis-factorily, and three more upgradingplants were completed at Thai andKakrapar.

At Kalpakkam, the Fast BreederTest Reactor (FBTR), with indige-nously developed carbide fuel core,reached a power level of 10.2 MWwith valving-in of water into the steamgenerator. The research and de-velopment work carried out by BARC

Uraninite veins in quartzite

Indigenously fabricated machine forproduction of zircaloy tubes

on oxide, carbide and nitride fuels formeeting the future needs of the nuc-lear power programme, yielded anovel production route of MOX(mixed oxide) fuel assemblies. Withthis achievement, India has entered aselect band of advanced countrieswhich possess this capability. BARChas also developed an energy savingprocess for production of free flowinguranium oxide powder for pelletisa-tion. For the second core of FBTR, theCentre has manufactured sinteredmixed uranium-plutonium carbidefuel pellets. The development of de-sign of 500MWe PHWR and thoriumbased AHWR remained the mainthrust of the research and develop-ment programme of BARC.

NFC, which meets the fuel needs ofthe nuclear power reactors, effectedimprovements in the production linewhich resulted in higher productionof zirconium oxide.

Waste Immobilization Plant (WIP)at Tarapur became operational dur-ing the year. Very few countries of theworld possess this technology.

India is a major producer ofradioisotopes and allied productswhich have varied applications inradiography, training, nuclear medi-cine and research. The researchreactors at Trombay were employedfor the development of reactor tech-nology and production of radioiso-

Occupational safety of workers

topes. Dhruva and Cirus at Trombayproduced almost full range ofradioisotopes, meeting the domesticneeds.

For the first time, a gaseousradioactive tracer was successfullyused by BARC scientists to detectleaks in ethylene gas pipeline be-tween Nagothane and Ghansoli inMaharashtra.

The gamma scanning techniquedeveloped in BARC for on-line non-destructive diagnosis of malfunction-ing of distillation and extraction col-umns in oil refineries was successful-ly applied in the Indian Oil Corpora-tion's Haldia and Gujarat refineriesThis resulted in large savings byavoiding shut-down of the plants.

During the year BRIT soldRs. 11.70 crore worth of nnioiso-topes. Radioisotope products andequipment valued at Rs.55 lakh wereexported. A total of 12 peta Bec-querel (330 kilo Curie) of radiationsources were supplied by BRiT foruse in medicine, agriculture, industryand research. Also, about 55,000consignments of various radiophar-maceuticals were supplied for use innuclear medicine, enabling an esti-mated 6.5 lakhs patient investiga-tions. Radiation sterilisation servicesoffered by the Isomed plant at Trom-bay were utilised by manufacturers ofmedical products and about 8200

Tissue cultured Banana Plant 425 cubic metre capacity uesannauon

cubic metres (95,500 cartons) ofmedical products were sterilised

During 1993, over 24,000 patientswere registered in the Tata MemorialHospital.

The programme under nuclearagriculture covered activities relatingto crop improvement, food preserva-tion, fertilizer studies; biopesticideand basic and applied research inthe field of agriculture. One variety ofblackgram anc1 two varieties of mus-tard were notified by the Ministry ofAgriculture for commercial cultiva-tion. The mungbean variety TARM-2,for rabi cultivation, was accepted bythe Maharashtra State Seed Commit-tee for release in Vidarbha region.The large seeded groundnut varietyTG-19A was also recommended forrelease in the Konkan region by thejoint AGRESCO Meeting 1993. Theseed production programme ofMaharashtra State Seed Corporationis expected to produce about 3100metric tons (te) of seeds of Trombayvarieties of pulses and oil seeds.BARC also completed installation ofa transportable demonstration irra-diator for onion. At Trombay, about10,000 plants were regeneratedthrough tissue culture and subjectedto field trials.

12 MeV microtron for medical use

Radiation for health care: Patient beingexamined for thyroid problem

The other salient research activi-ties were as follows:

The pilot scale 425 cubic metre/day desalination plant was success-fully operated at Trombay. The plantproduces potable water from sea wa-ter. BARC will develop bigger plantsbased on this technology.

The Variable Energy Cyclotron atCalcutta and the 14 million volt pel-letron accelerator at Bombay con-tinued to render service to resear-chers.

Research was conducted in thesynthesis and study of several prom-ising superconducting materials. Abismuth monolayer cuprate super-conductor, with a superconductingtransition temperature of 70 Kelvin,was synthesised.

An 8-node parallel processing sys-tem capable of 52m FLOPS speed,was upgraded to 24-nodes with thricethe speed.

At BARC a thermal ionisation massspectrometer with a larger analyserwas also developed for the isotopicanalysis of nuclear fuel materials.The indigenous lab facility for de-position of diamond films becamefunctional and crystalline diamonddeposits were obtained. The metho-dology for the determination of hyd-rogen at trace levels in zircaloy sam-

Parallel Processing Computer Anupam

pies, was also developed atTrombay.

Some of the facilities at the Nation-al Centre for Compositional Charac-terisation of Materials at Hyderabad,became functional. This centre,which is a unique facility in the coun-try, will cater to all the requirementsinvolving specialised analytical stu-dies.

Under the laser programme, acompact prototype transverse flowcarbon dioxide (CO2) laser was de-veloped at CAT, Indore. The centrealso commissioned the microtron forlndus-1 which is one of the two syn-chrotron radiation sources.

Radiological safety and environ-mental surveillance programmeswere carried out at all the nuclearinstallations of DAE. The releases ofradioactivity in the liquid andgaseous forms from all the nuclearpower stations were well below thepermissible limits and radiation doseresulting from operation of the nuc-lear power stations remained far be-low the limits prescribed by the Ato-mic Energy Regulatory Board(AERB).

The Environmental Survey Labor-atories at different locations con-tinuously assessed the environmentalimpact of the operations of nuclear

Gamma Ray Computed TomographicImaging System

Thermograph of PFBR ReactorAssembly

installations by analysing air, water,soil and food samples around thesefacilities. BARC also successfully lo-cated the three radioactive sourcesfrom the Coovam river at Madras. Ab-out 100,000 persons living near thehigh background radiation areas inKerala were screened under a radia-tion dosimetric study andepidemiological survey programmewas undertaken in collaboration withthe Regional Cancer Research Cen-tre, Trivandrum.

The description of the major activi-ties of DAE organisations during theperiod 1993-94, is given in followingclassified trpics.

Recovery of radioactive sources fromCoovam river

Environment Care

Satellite picture of a part of AndhraPradesh by remote sensing technique.

ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES (1993-94)

15 1.5

Nuclear Power ProgrammeRs. in Crores 1388

1 Atomic Minerals Division & UCIL 762 Nuclear Fuel Complex 2683 Hetvy Water Projects 344

In Percentage

Research & DevelopmentRs. in Crores 357

7 Bhabha Atomic Research Centre8 VariaUe^Energy Cyclotron Centre9 Cent(e\for Advanced Technology

10 Indira Gandhi Centre for

184102838

m

OthersRs. in Crores 64

12 Industry & Extension Programme 2313 Support Services 3114 Direction & Administration 10

3[•AK POWER SECTOR

During 1992-93. the NPCIL postedIIG* profit of Rs.89 74 crores beforeappropriations.

Nuclear Power Generation

During the year 1993, the operatingnuclear power plants generated 6197million units (MUs) of electricity. Forthe period from 1 April to 31 Decem-ber, 1993, the total electricity genera-tion was 4280 MUs. The gross gen-eration from the units during 1993-94is estimated to reach about 5500 MUsas compared to 6650 MUs of actualgeneration during 1992-93. The de-crease was mainly due to Narora sta-tion remaining out of service duringmajor part of the year. The cumulativegeneration from all the units in opera-tion till December, 1993 amounted to87,235 MUs.

During 1992-93, the NPCIL posteda net profit of Rs.89.74 crores beforeappropriations.

3.1.1 Tarapur Atomic Power Station(2x160 MWe BWR)

This station logged about 48 reac-tor years of commercial operation asof December, 1993 with a cumulativegeneration of 44350 MUs. It gener-ated 1951 MUs during the year 1993and 1462 MUs during the period 1April to 31 December 1993. Table-1gives unit-wise generating perform-ance for 1993.

Unit-2 was shutdown on 23 Febru-ary, 1993 for its thirteenth refuellingoutage which continued till 18 June,1993.

3.1.2 Rajasthan Atomic PowerStation (100, 200 MWe PHWR)

Unit-2 (200 MWe) recorded acumulative generation of 14,420 MUsupto the end of December, 1993 in-cluding 1070 MUs of electricity

Tarapur Atomic Power Station

equivalent of the steam for the nearbyheavy water plant. Table-2 gives thegenerating performance for 1993.

Unit-2 had a shutdown from 20April to 8 June 1993 for variousmaintenance jobs and resolving the

problem of the stuck fuel transfershuttle in the fuel transfer tube at theinspection bay end.

Unit-1 of the station continued tooperate at power level limited to 100MWe. The cumulative generation of

TAPS

Generation (MUs)Capacity Factor (%)Availability Factor (%)

TABLE -

Unit-101.01.93 01

to31.12.93 31

10887885

1

.04.93to

.12.93

7757382

01

31

Unit-2.01.93 01to

.12.93 31

8636266

.04.93to

.12.93

6876568

1 Madras Atomic Power Station• Narora Atomic Power Station

electricity by this unit till December,1993 was 8281 MUs including 84MUs of electricity equivalent of thesteam supplied to the nearby heavywater plant. This unit generated 216MUs in 1993 and 155 MUs during theperiod 1 April to 31 December 1993.A minor but difficult heavy water leakin the over-pressure-relief device onits calandria necessitated long shut-downs. Regulatory permission for op-eration in a modified mode for mini-mising this leak required periodic re-newal. Preparations for permanentlyrepairing this leak are in hand andhave been taking some time becauseof the necessity for developing re-motely operated special tools in viewof the difficult accessibility and highradiation location of this device.

3.1.3 Madras Atomic Power Station(2x220 MWe PHWRs)

The station's cumulative genera-tion was 17026 MUs till December,1993. During the year 1993 the sta-tion generated 1703 MUs of electric-ity and during the period 1 April to 31December 1993 its generation was1074 MUs. Table-3 gives the unit-wise generating performance for1993.

The operating power levels of boththe units continued to be limited to175 MWe as per the stipulations ofthe AERB. Analytical and ex-perimental work for raising the oper-ating power are continuing.

The performance of Unit-1Vof thestation got affected as a plannedshutdown taken on 31 July 1993 formaintenance and inspecting the tur-bine got extended beyond the ex-pected three months because of therequirements for modifying the last

Rajasthan Atomic Power Station

stages of the LP rotor of the turbineand inservice inspection of coolantchannels. The decontamination ofprimary coolant system was also car-ried out.

Though Unit-2 achieved an annualavailability factor of 76%, its capacityfactor (based on the rating of 220MWe) for 1993 was only 57% mainly

because of the restriction in the oper-ating power level.

3.1.4 Narora Atomic Power Station(2x220 MWe PHWRs)

This station generated 483 MUsduring the year 1993. Its cumulativegeneration till December 1993amounted to 2597 MUs. The Table-4

RAPS UNIT-2

Generation (MUs)Capacity Factor (%)Availability Factor (%)

TABLE - 2

01.01.93to

31.12.93

12817380

01.04.93to

31.12.93

9277077

rgives the unitwise generating per-formance.

The Unit-1 operated well for thefirst three months of 1993 producing384 MUs with a capacity factor of81%. However, a fire incident in theturbine generator of this unit, on 31March 1993 due to sudden failure ofturbine blades caused damage to tur-bine generator, power and controlcables and bus duct in the turbinebuilding, putting the unit out of ser-vice for the rest of the year. The firedid not affect the reactor building orthe nuclear systems. During this fireincident, the reactor safety systemsperformed as per design intent. Therewas no release of radiation, hence nospread of contamination to site or en-vironment.

The performance of Unit-2 of thestation was also affected as commonoutput panels and related cables lo-cated in Unit-1 Turbine building suf-fered damage. As a result, this unitwhich was on outage at the begin-ning of the year mainly for repairingthe rotor of its turbine generator, hadto remain shutdown till 19 November,1993.

The Committees constituted byAERB and NPCIL analysed the de-tails of the Narora fire incident. Therehabilitation programme of the unitswas taken into account the recom-mendations to prevent recurrence ofsuch an incident besides modifyingthe last stage LP blades and rerout-ing of the cables. Consequent to theNarora fire incident, in-service in-spection of turbines in the other simi-lar units was carried out and modifiedLP stage blades are progressivelybeing installed.

Madras Atomic Power Station

MAPS

Generation (MUs)Capacity Factor (%)Availability Factor (%)

01

31

.01to

.12.

6143244

TABLE -

Unit-193 01

93 31

3

.04.93to

.12.93

3262231

01

31

Unit-2.01.93 01to

.12.93 31

10895776

.04.93to

.12.93

7485269

The first unit of the Kakrapar AtomicPower station was declaredcommercial on 6 May 1993 Thesecond unit has reached anadvanced stage of construction andcommissioning.

Kakrapar Atomic Power StationKaiga Atomic Power Project

3.1.5 Kakrapar Atomic Power Station(2x220 MWe PHWRs)

The first unit of the station was de-clared commercial on 6 May, 1993,and generated 562 MUs till Decem-ber 1993 with a capacity factor of44% and an availability factor of 61 %.An initial regulatory limitation of theoperating power to 75% full powerand certain equipment problemaffected the performance of this unit,which was stabilising after com-mencement of commercial operation.

. Nuclear Power Projects UnderConstruction

3.2.1 Kakrapar Atomic Power Project

The first unit of the project, de-clared commercial in May 1993, wasin operation as reported above. Thesecond unit reached an advancedstage of construction and commis-sioning. The erection and commis-sioning activities of electrical and in-strumentation systems reached anadvanced stage of commissioningand completion. Moderator system,secondary system, reactor auxiliarysystems and common service sys-tems were ;ommissioned. Distillationcolumns-1&2 were erected in theheavy water upgrading plant which isunder commissioning.

Hot conditioning of the primaryheat transport system, light watercommissioning, and reactor buildingleak test were completed. Works re-lating to reactor regulation and pro-tection systems reached final stagesof commissioning. Erection & com-missioning of fuel handling systemare nearing completion. Erectionwork of the Turbine Generator (TG)made significant progress. Based on

Narora Atomic Power Station

the present status, the unit is ex-pected to achieve criticality shortly.

3.2.2 Kaiga Project(2x220 MWe PHWR)

Civil construction and equipmenterection made significant progress.Main equipment and components

already reached site. Steam gener-ators-4&5 were received. EmergencyCore Cooling and Active Process Wa-ter (APW) heat exchangers and star-tup transformers for both the units,moderator pumps, bleed coolers, tur-bine generator stator and moistureseparator & reheater assembly forone unit were received.

MAPS

Generation (MUs)Capacity Factor (%)Availability Factor (%)

01

31

.01.to

.12.

3842023

TABLE -

Unit-193 01

93 31

4

.04to

.12

000

CO

C

OC

O

CO 01

31

Unit-2.01.93 01to

.12.93 31

9956

.04.to

.12.

9978

93

93

10

Civil construction and equipmenterection for Kaiga Project has madesignificant progress.

Completed Civil Works include :Reactor Building-1 (RB-1) Inner Con-tainment Wall (ICW) with the ringbeam, Outer Containment Wall(OCW) upto 117 M EL, inner contain-ment dome concreting, and all theinternal structures; all Turbine Build-ing-1 (TB-1) structures includingerection of the turbine hall crane (TB-1 is nearing completion); ControlBuilding (CB), civil construction upto111 M EL; RB-2 ICW upto 129 M ELand concreting of the internal struc-tures upto 112.5M EL floor; and allstructural works of TB- 2 upto 111 MEL. Civil works of other buildingssuch as Reactor Auxiliary Buildings(RAB), Service Building, InducedDraught Cooling Towers, Intake &Outfall Structures and Pumphousemade progress.

In the Unit-1 welding of Endshieldsand Calandria, and installation ofFuelling Machine Bridge & Columns,Reactor Headers and Calandriatubes were completed. The coolantchannel installation continued.Steam generator erection is expectedto start soon. Regarding nuclear pip-ing, about 35% of welding and 20%of erection works were completed. InTB-1, equipment such as boiler feedpumps, feed water heaters anddeaerators were erected. About 45%of condenser erection work was alsocompleted. All the APW pumps andheat exchangers were erected. About60% welding and 20% of erectionworks of conventional system pack-ages were completed. Significantprogress was also made on the workpackages for chlorination and filtra-tion, demineralised water plant, com-pressor plant, ventilation system,chiller plant etc..

In the Unit-2 erection of Endshields& Calandria was completed. Calan-dria-Endshield welding and erectionof Fuelling Machine Bridge & Col-umns and Reactor headers madeprogress. Regarding nuclear piping,about 17% of welding and 6% oferection were completed. Erection ofthe secondary cycle system equip-ment progressed in TB-2.

3.2.3 RAPP-3&4(2x220 MWe PHWR)

The civil construction works of themain plant buildings of the projectprogressed and in unit-3, the equip-ment erection and piping works com-menced.

Apart from main equipment alreadyat site, other equipment such as Mod-

Kakrapar Atomic Power Station

The erection of switchyard struc-ture and stringing were completedand equipment erection made prog-ress which is expected to be com-pleted soon. The 220 KV line fromNagjari Power Station, required forcommissioning power being buit byKarnataka Electricity Board is prog-ressing and is expected to be readyby April, 1994. Units-1&2 are ex-pected to achieve criticality by June1996 and December 1996 respec-tively.

erator Pumps, CW Pumps, Roll-on-Shield & Fixed shield for Unit-3,Bleed Cooler and Endshields forUnit-4, Deaerators and EmergencyCore Cooling Pumps for both the un-its and certain conventional equip-ment were received at site.

Completed Civil Works includeReactor Building-3 (RB-3) all cross &structural walls upto 111 M EL, ICWupto 111.40 M EL. and OCW upto 104M EL; TB-3 all slabs upto 116 M EL.

11

The civil construction works of themain plant buildings of the RajasthanAtomic Power Project (RAPP) - 3&4progressed and in unit-3, theequipment erectic:i and piping workscommenced.

Kaiga Atomic Power Project

and part slab at 121 M EL; CB theentire 100 M EL. slab and half of the106 M slab; RB-4 all slabs at 100 MEL. and 103.35 M EL and East sideslab at 107.3 M EL. and CalandriaVault; TB-4, TG top deck (111 M EL);and switchyard civil works. The 112M slab, ICW upto 131 M EL. anderection of IC dome in RB-3, all TB-3works and Unit-3 portion of CB areexpected to be completed during theyear 1994. Civil works of other build-ings like RABs, Service Building, Cir-culating Water and Safety Related

Pump Houses and structures likeNatural Draught Cooling Towers andInduced Draught Cooling Towersmade progress.

In Unit-3 Calandria, Endshieldsand Moderator heat exchangers wereerected. The alignment of Calandriaand Endshields was completed andwelding would soon be completed.Main Plant electrical contract wasawarded and work on cable tray sup-ports started. Active Process Waterheat exchangers, moisture separater,

12

Live Steam reheater drain tanks &pumps, etc. were erected. Qualifica-tion of welders for nuclear piping andprefabrication of secondary cycleand out door piping made progress.

Units-3&4 are scheduled toachieve criticality in November 1996and May 1997 respectively.

> New Starts• 500MWe PHWR

3 3 New Starts

3.3.1 Tarapur Atomic PowerProject 3&4(2x500 MWe PHWR)

Most of the activities related to siteinfrastructure were completed duringthe year. Land acquisition madefurther progress. The rehabilitationpackage for the project affected fami-lies was finalised and formal approv-al from the State Government is awa-ited. Some of the main plant equip-ment were received at site. Detaileddesign and engineering work madefurther progress. Preparation of thedetailed foundation drawingsreached final stages.

For the two units manufacture ofCalandrias was completed earlier.Manufacture of Endshields and fab-rication of coolant channel compo-nents continued. Manufacture of Tur-

bine Generator for the first unit alsoreached completion.

Authorisation for construction,commencement for TAPP-3&4 wasissued by AERB in September, 1993.Award of main plant civil works isawaiting availability of funds. Possi-bility of setting up a Joint VentureCompany to undertake this projectwas discussed with the representa-tives of Maharashtra and GujaratGovernments. Details are being ex-amined.

3 4 Planned Schemes

Earlier in the previous years, en-vironmental and safety clearances forthe sites to set up Kaiga 3 to 6 (4 x220 MWe) and RAPP 5 to 8 (4 x 500MWe) were obtained and advanceactions on procurement of long deliv-

ery and critical equipment were initi-ated based on partial financial sanc-tions accorded by the Government ofIndia. Further actions on Kaiga 3 to 6and RAPP 5 & 6 projects proposed inthe VIII plan were kept in abeyancepending availability of funds. Possi-bility of setting up Kaiga 3 & 4 (2 x220 MWe) as a joint sector projectwith Southern Region States is beingexplored. Discussions continued withthe Russian Federation on the prop-osed 2 x 1000 MWe project atKudankulam, Tamil Nadu.

The first indigenously fabricated pressuriser for 500 MWe reactor reaching site

13

Production of heavy water hasimproved over the last few years.

The performance of all the heavywater plants during the year wassatisfactory.

3 5 Heavy Water

The performance of all the heavywater plants during the year wassatisfactory, however the plant at Tal-cher had restricted operation ThePlant-wise performance is as follows:

3.5.1 Heavy Water Plants

The Nangal (Panjab) plant con-tinued to produce heavy water onsustained basis with higher through-put and on-stream factor, as a con-

sequence of the improvementseffected.

The Baroda (Gujarat) plant per-formed on sustained basis except forthe period from June to July 1993 dueto the planned major annual turn-around. The potassium metal manu-facturing plant, situated near theplant, also worked satisfactorily andproduced potassium for makingcatalyst for use in the ammoniabased heavy water plants.

The performance of the Tuticorin(Tamilnadu) plant was satisfactorythough it was affected to some extentdue to tube rupture of a heat exchan-ger, problems of gas supply from thefertilizer plant to which it is linkedand sudden flooding due to heavyrains.

The Thai (Maharashtra) plant oper-ated on sustained basis and pro-duced heavy water commensuratewith the inputs from the fertilizer

Heavy Water Plant at Hazira, Gujarat

14

Heavy Water Plant, Manuguru, AndhraPradesh. The Plant is using indigenoushydrogen sulphide-water exchangeprocess developed at BARC

15

Performance of the heavy waterupgrading plants is beingcontinuously improved by improvingon their design.

plant. The Upgrading Plant is ex-pected to be commissioned shortly.

The Hazira (Gujarat) plant con-tinued production of heavy water butunder reduced load due to retrofittingof one of the two ammonia units of thefertilizer plant to which it is linked,and curtailment of gas supply by GasAuthority of India Ltd.(GAIL). The op-eration of the upgrading unit atHazira which was commissioned lastyear has stabilised.

The Kota (Rajasthan) plant oper-ated on sustained basis and pro-duced heavy water except duringmajor turn-atound, which is once infour years. After the major turn-around, plant continued operationachieving higher levels of produc-tions.

Performance of the Manuguru(Andhra Pradesh) Plant during theyear showed marked improvementthough it was affected to some extent,by the problems in captive powerplant. Part of the plant was underannual turn-around. Thereafter theplant continued operation achievinghigher levels of production. Externalcoal handling system was also com-missioned. The capacity of the sys-tem was brought up to 100%.

The Talcher (Orissa) Plant wasoperated commensurate with the in-puts available. Whenever inputs inthe required quality and quantitywere available from the fertilizer plantto which it is linked. However, thePlant could not be run on sustainedmanner due to the problems regard-ing availability of inputs in an uninter-rupted manner.

3.5.2 Heavy Water Upgrading

So far, BARC has put up 12 up-grading units at different nuclearpower and heavy water plant sites.Performance of the heavy water up-grading plants is being continuous-

tillation was put into operation atBaroda, utilizing the highly efficienttower internals developed in BARC.Additional upgrading plant (13th) atHeavy Water Plant, Thai and twomore units (14th & 15th) at Kakrapar

Heavy Water Upgrading plant set up by BARC at Narora

ly improved by improving on theirdesign. Operation of these final en-richment units in tandem with themain heavy water plant ensures sus-tained production at the requiredcapacity and enrichment level, allow-ing sufficient flexibility in the opera-tions of the main plant. During theyear, an additional (twelfth) final en-richment unit based on vacuum dis-

have been erected and await com-missioning.

Commissioning of BARC designedand engineered advanced pressureelectrolyser generating high purityhydrogen and oxygen, fabrication ofan oxy-hydrogen flame generator forprecision welding, boring and otherallied fabrication jobs and designing

16

TARGETS AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE PRINCIPAL ACTIVITIES OF AMD

A sizeable near-sur'ace uranium

ore-body was established

Now surface ijranifo'ou1- /ones wore

discovered and extent.ins of known

occurrences vvere de!iner)ied ip

various par!s of [he O'u'Wry Ir'.'niq'r.

20,000

and fabrication of a portable hyd-rogen sulphide-in-air monitoring andwarning device were the salient de-velopments during this period.

Atomic Minerals

The Atomic Minerals Division(AMD) is responsible tor exploration,evaluation and characterization ofatomic mineral resources required forthe Indian nuclear power programme.Design and fabrication of radiometricinstruments, and development of oreextraction flow-sheets, related to theabove activities are also being car-ried out.

A sizeable near-surface uraniumore-body was established in a newgeological environment at Lambapur,Nalgonda district, Andhra Pradeshand additional reserves of 3,200 teuranium oxide from different depositswere added to the uranium resourceinventory of the country. Exploratorymining was completed at Tummala-palle, Andhra Pradesh and ex-perimental mining commenced atJajawal, Madhya Pradesh.

About 500 kg of yellow cake(sodium diuranate) was producedfrom the test recovery plants atDomiasiat, Meghalaya; Kandi,Himaohal Pradesh; and Bodal,Madhya Pradesh.

New surface uranifefous zoneswere discovered and extensions ofknown occurrences were delineatedin various parts of the country throughground radiometric and geologicalinvestigations. Besides subsurface ofuraniferous zones were establishedby exploratory drilling.

15,000 -

10,000

5,000

1400 -

1200 -

1000

800 -

600 -

&CO

400-

200 -

IRec. Survey Geochem.

Survey

50

DetailedSurvey

RJ. Survey Geophy.Survey

Heavy Min.Survey

RMRESurvey

!

40 -

30 -

£ 20 "

10 -

. ICb-Ta Spodumene Beryl

MineralXenotime

TARGET 1993-94 ACHIEVEMENTS 1993-94 TARGET 1994-95

17

Xenotime bearing polymineralicconcentrate of over 40 tonnes wasrecovered from Siri and Deo rivers.

Xenotime reserves were augmentedby 200 te from various riverines.

Potential tracts of heavy mineralswere identified.

Xenotime bearing polymineralicconcentrate of about 40 tonnes wasproduced from recovery plants in Siririver, Madhya Pradesh and Deo river,Bihar. Xenotime reserves of the orderof 200 tonnes were estimated fromvarious riverine placers in MadhyaPradesh. New areas of potentialxenotime occurrences were locatedin Mahaboobnagar district, AndhraPradesh; Raichur district, Karnataka;and Nagpur district, Maharashtra.Columbite-tantalite concentrate, spo-dumene, and beryl were producedfrom mobile recovery plants at Marla-galla, Karnataka and Metapal,Madhya Pradesh.

Potential tracts of heavy mineralswere identified along the east coastin Ganjam district, Orissa and Srika-kulam district, Andhra Pradesh. In-formation on total heavy mineral re-sources of the country based on overfour decades of AMD's work wassynthesized in a report. Another re-port on heavy mineral reserves ofeastern extension of IREL MiningBlock-I, Chavara deposits was alsoprepared.

Geotechnical investigations re-lated to the nuclear power plant siteat Kudankulam, Tamil Nadu werecontinued. A report on the seis-motectonic status of the Coromandalcoast between Madras and Pon-dicherry was also prepared. Geotec-tonic investigations and radon moni-toring in the areas affected by Laturearthquake were carried by AMD. Ex-ploratory drilling connected withselection of sites under RIP (Reposi-tory for Immobilised-waste Products)Project commenced at Kalpakkam.

The laboratories of AMD providedanalytical support to field investiga-tions besides carrying out researchand development work.

Ground radiometric survey being T"[conducted in parts ofAndhra Pradesh

Spiral concentrator torxenotime recovery atSiri river, Madhya Pradesh

Chairman AEC visits Domiasiat, Meghaiaya

Heavy mineral concentrations in sand dunes,Srikakulam coast, Andhra Pradesh 19

During the year, the facilities atTrombay continued to supply themetallic uranium fuel for the researchreactors. Fabrication and supply offuel bundles for the operation ofreactors at Tar^ur, Rawatbhata,Kalpakkam, Narora and Kakraparwere continued at NFC, Hyderabad.

Indigenously fabricated cold reductionmill for production of small diameter \seamless'tubes

Natural uranium fuel pellets manufactured by NFC

3 " Nuciear Fuels

During the year, the facilities atTrombay continued to supply themetallic uranium fuel for the researchreactors. Fabrication and supply offuel bundles for the operation of reac-tors at Tarapur, Rawatbhata, Kalpak-kam, Narora and Kakrapar were con-tinued at NFC, Hyderabad. The bulkof the production operations werecarried on with the help of indige-nously designeo and fabricatedequipment.

3.7.1 Zircaloy Products

An all-time high record of over 200te of the production of zirconiumoxide powder was achieved by NFCthrough process modifications andimprovements in the production line,especially the solvent extraction puri-fication section. Production of zirco-nium sponge was continued in thenewly introduced large capacity re-duction and vacuum distillation units.

Emphasis was laid on recycling ofavailable scrap to minimise inventor-ies and methods were standardisedby NFC for re-working of rejectedPHWR fuel elements. Considerablequantity of zircaloy scrap was recy-cled through the sponge route.

A new final compacting press wascommissioned and a special pur-pose double head turning machinewas installed at NFC for finishing op-erations in the fuel tubes. For efficientcrushing and blending of spongelots, a double cone blender and a jawcrusher were commissioned. Re-novation of plant building and im-provement of work atmosphere by in-troducing high capacity blowers andexhaust system were also completedby NFC.

The production of zircaloy ingotswas continued and about 60 te ofzircaloy scrap was recycled by NFC.A large computer controlled vacuumarc melting furnace was erected andcommissioned and a large weldingmachine for fabrication of consum-able electrodes for arc melting wasinstalled. To meet the needs of thenuclear power programme for zirca-loy ingots, a computer controlledmelting furnace and electron beam(EB) welding machine were set up.Several process modifications werealso introduced by NFC.

Fabrication and supply of calan-dria tubes, shut-off tubes and flowtubes for RAPP-4 and fabrication ofzirconium-niobium coolant tubes forKaiga-2 and RAPP-4 reactors werecompleted by NFC. To manufacturethe seamless calandria tubes for 500MWe reactor, modifications on theexisting mill were carried out. Thetrial tubes of this size are under pro-duction. A few pressure tubes alongwith several spool pieces of different

20

For meeting the requirement of thenuclear progtamme of the country.NFC Mas boon setting up lour newprefects

Indigenously fabricated high temperature sintering furnace

lengths were produced for evaluationat BARC."

Twin station arc melting furnace for production ofzircaloy inject

3.7.2 New Projects for Fuel & Zircaloy

For meeting the requirement of thenuclear programme of the country,NFC has been setting up four newprojects (Table-I) during the VIII andIX plans. For all these projects, apartfrom site authorisation, requisiteclearances were obtained fromAERB, State Pollution Control Boardsand Department of Environment.

The New Uranium Oxide Fuel Pro-ject being set up at Hyderabad, isscheduled to be commissioned byDecember 1995. Construction work ofthe Process Plant and essential Utii-ityBuildings continued. Procure-ment action also reached advancedstage for major packages/equipment.

For the New Uranium Fuel Assem-bly Project all the major packages forcivil works, electrical works, utilityequipment and process equipmentwere finalised and reached differentstages of implementation. The land

21

During the year, research wasdirected towards improving thepresent technology for the productionof metallic and oxide uranium fuel aswell as for the development ofadvanced fuels.

• Advanced Fuels• Mixed Oxide Fuel fabrication• Carbide Fuel for FBTR• Fuel for Prototype FastBreeder Reactor (PFBR)

around plant building was developedand landscaping work progressed.The first module is expected to becommissioned by December, 1995.

Construction of *he New ZircaloyFabrication Plant buildings, roadsetc progressed. Some of the majorequipment were received. Procure-ment action for other process-anc:-utiiity equipment reached advancedstage. First module of the plant isexpected to be commissioned by theend of 1995.

3.7.3 New Zirconium Sponge Plant

Action was taken for setting up anew zirconium sponge plant atPalayakayal village, near Tuticorin,Tamilnadu. Due to the revision of theDAE's power programme, the capac-ity of zirconium sponge plant has nowbeen planned at 200 tonnes per year(TPY). In addition to this a 1000 TPYtitanium sponge plant and a 1400TPY magnesium plant have beenplanned for this site. The magnesiumplant is for captive electrolytic pro-cessing of the byproduct | anhydrousmagnesium chloride from zirconiumand titanium sponge production. Thetechnologies for titanium and'magne-sium metals will be provided by the

Defence Metallurgical ResearchLaboratory (DMRL), Hyderabad.

At Palayakayal project site, majorenabling and infrastructure civilworks were completed during theyear. The site is now ready for plantconstruction.

3.8 Advanced Fuels

To meet the requirements of thefuture nuclear power programme,BARC has been carrying out researchand development work on MOX andFBR fuels. During the year, researchwas directed towards improving thepresent technology for the productionof metallic and oxide uranium fuel aswell as for the development of adv-anced fuels.

3.8.1 Fuel Research

Salient activities in this field atBARC included, process for the pre-paration of free flowing uranium diox-ide UO2 powder for use in directpelletisation and sintering to high de-nsity pellets. A sol-gel microspherepelletisation and low temperature ox-idative sintering process was de-veloped for the fabrication of highdensity uranium dioxide pellets for

TABLE -

Plant Capacity

1. New Uranium Oxide Fuel Plant,Hyderabad

2. New Uranium Fuel AssemblyPlant, Hyderabad

3. New Zirconium Sponge Plant,Palayakayal, Tamilnadu.

4. New Zircaloy Fabrication Plant,Hyderabad.

670 T of UO2 pellets per year.

PHWR fuel assemblies containing600 T of UO2 per year.200 T Zirconium sponge per year

80 T Zircaloy fuel tubes and othercomponents per year.

PHWR fuel. This new process is alsoamenable for automation and re-motiza'iion and leads to considerableenergy savings during sintering.Work on fabrication of a low tempera-ture continuous sintering furnace wasalso continued.

3.8.2 MOX Fuel

Fabrication of MOX fuel was takenup in Advanced Fuel FabricationFacility (AFFF) Tarapur through anovel mechanical milling route. Faci-lities for quality control of MOX fuelwere also set up.

With the fabrication of MOX fuelassemblies for power reactors, Indiaentered a select band of advancedcountries which have acquired suchcapability.

A scheme to recycle plutonium in220 MWe PHWR was worked out atTrombay and its effects on the reactorcontrol and shut down systems werestudied. All aspects of MOX, as analternative fuel for TAPS, were alsostudied.

3.8.3 Carbide Fuel

Sintered mixed uranium-plutoniumcarbide fuel pellets for the secondcore of FBTR were prepared at BARC.Tests showed that the fuel will causenegligible carburisation of the clad-ding.

3.8.4 PFBR Fuel

As part of fhe fuel developmentprogramme for the Prototype FastBreeder Reactor (PFBR), a dust freesol-gel microsphere pelletisationprocess was developed for fabrica-tion of fuel pellets.

22

Train of glove boxes for manufactureof mixed carbide fuel

Uranium-233 based fuel fabricated at BARC

Mixed carbide fuelpellets for FBTRmanufactured byBARC

PFBR componentsmanufactured at theNuclear Fuel Complex

23

t-uel Reprocessing

To create the required Plutoniumbase for the Fast Breeder Program-me, spent fuel reprocessing capacityin the country is being enhanced in aphased manner. Two reprocessingplants are in operation at Trombayand Tarapur, and a third plant is com-ing up at Kalpakkam.

The reprocessing plant at Trombaycontinued to process spent uraniumfuel from Dhruva. The Power ReactorFuel Reprocessing Plant (PREFRE),Tarapur, remained under a briefmaintenance outage during theperiod. Preparations continued tostart the next campaign with freshfuel material from the power reactor.Kalpakkam Fuel Reprocessing PlantProject (KARP), for reprocessing thespent uranium fuel from MAPS en-tered the final phase of construction.Plans for setting up another reproces-sing plant of larger through-put areon the anvil.

Technology for the separation ofuranium-233 from irradiated thoriumfuel already developed and success-fully demonstrated. An engineeringscale facility for this purpose wasunder construction at Trombay. Thiswill process the thorium fuel ele-ments undergoing irradiation in theresearch reactors.

Remote controlled chopper

for breaking spent fuel

An all-time high record of over iiuuMT of the production of zirconiumoxide powder was achieved by NFCthrough process modifications andimprovements in the production line.

To create the required Plutoniumbase !or the Fast BreederProgramme, spent fuel reprocessingcapacity in the country is beingenhanced

•>• Radioactivement

Waste Manage-

The Indian nuclear energy prog-ramme offers a very high priority tohealth and safety of the public & pro-tection of the environment, by a safemanagement of the radioactivewastes. India is one of the few coun-

tries who have the technology of vitri-fication of radioactive waste.

The waste management facilities atvarious nuclear installation sitesoperated satisfactorily throughout theyear and the radioactivity releasedinto the environment was well withinthe prescribed limits. The environ-

Kalpakkam Reprocessing Plant (KARP) at IGCAR

24

The Waste immobilisation Plant• WlPi a! Tarapur provided valuableex defence :r> thp sophisticatedvi!' 'icat.or technology

mental monitoring carried out aroundthe waste disposal sites indicated in-tegrity of the waste containment sys-tems.

The Waste- Immobilisation Plant(WIP) at Tarapur became operationalduring the year and provided valu-able experience in the sophisticatedvitrification technology. The WasteImmobilization Plant Project at Trom-bay reached advanced stage of con-struction and work on a similar pro-ject made steady progress at Kal-pakkam.

Waste Immobilisation Plant at Tarapur

A number of research and develop-ment programmes were initiated tobring the waste management tech-nology to the state-of-art level by de-veloping improved processes for thetreatment and conditioning of the

wastes and for their safe contain-ment, out of contact with the bios-phere. A significant developmentwas the new solid matrices for remov-ing the long life fission productradionuclides.

Schematic view of air cooled solid storage surveillance facility at Tarapur25

During the /ear DAE continued toaccord highest priority to maintaining!he prescribed safety standards.

' Safety and EnvironmentProtection

The commitment of DAE to safetyencompasses all the activities of thenuclear fuel cycle ranging from min-ing, fuel fabrication and power gen-eration to fuel reprocessing andwaste management. Radiation expo-sure to employees and the public iscontinuously monitored, and ensuredto be within permissible limits asstipulated by the Atomic Energy Reg-

Radmon: Radiation monitoring instrument

Maintenance work being done at NAPS

ulatory Board. BARC carries out sur-veillance and radiological monitoringfor operations at all the DAE installa-tions.

3.11.1 Radiological Safety

Radiological safety and environ-mental surveillance programmeswere maintained at all the nuclearinstallations of DAE. The releases ofradioactivity from all the nuclear pow-

er stations were well below the per-missible limits and radiation dose re-sulting from operation of the nuclearpower stations remained far belowthe limits prescribed by AERB.

The Environmental Survey Labor-atories (ESLs) at different locationscontinuously assessed the environ-mental impact of operations of thenuclear installations by analysing air,water, soil and food samples around

26

Hand-and-foot contamination monitor

these facilities. Internal and externalexposures to the workers engaged inradioactive work were monitored toenforce compliance with the regula-tory requirements.

NPC maintained databases onradiological and industrial safety andused for safety related management.It also carried out radiometric inspec-tion for evaluation of the shieldingintegrity of various assemblies.

Following the fire incident at NAPS-1 site, detailed area and environmen-

7 %*

ft i Jfc- •

Environmental Survey Laboratory, Kalpakkam

tal monitoring were carried outpromptly. Results of the monitoringestablished that no radioactivity wasreleased into the plant areas or thesurroundings due to the fire incident.

An "Integrated Simulation Environ-ment" (ISE) software was developedby NPC for supporting dynamicsimulation of power plants. Develop-ment of Computer codes for safetyanalysis of various systems beyond-design-basis accident scenarios andprobabilistic safety assessment con-tinued.

Also a modified aerial gammaspectrometric system was interfacedto a satellite based Global Position-ing Navigational System.

Health Physics services of BARCwere extended to the operation in-volving the successful retrieval ofthree radioactive sources from theCoovam river at Madras.

The radiation safety programme innon-DAE institutions all over thecountry using radioisotopes andradiation sources for medical, indust-

Public Awareness Programme in action at Kalpakkam

rial and research applications wasalso implemented. In the field ofradiation safety, a number of new in-struments and methodologies weredeveloped. During the year, as part ofcontrywide personnel monitoringprogramme of BARC, 43,000 radia-tion workers were monitored.

About 100,000 persons living nearthe high background radiation areasin Kerala were screened under aradiation dosimetric study andepidemiological survey programmeundertaken in collaboration with theRegional Cancer Research Centre,Trivandrum.

27

3 ' ' 2 Industrial Safety

DAE continued to accord highestpriority to maintaining the prescribedsafety standards. To improve safetyculture, training programmes in safe-ty were intensified by the DAE Orga-nisations, environmental control mea-sures were further improved andafforestation work was pursued. Safe-ty of occupational staff was con-tinuously monitored. Medical check-ups and bioassays were conductedand records of health parametersmaintained.

Industrial hygiene surveys wereconducted by BARC in various unitsof DAE. It also prepared safety manu-als for use and guidance in heavywater plants of DAE.

NPC brought out manuals on train-ing and safety aspects. Seminars/training courses on Industrial Safetywere conducted at various sites.Safety Committees. Internal SafetyAudit Teams and Fire Safety AuditTeams were formed at the NPC plantsites.

The Industrial Safety, Fire Safetyand Green Site Awards of AERB werewon by NPCIL units. NPCIL has alsoinstituted an Industrial Safety Award.

3 113 Environment Protection

Protection of environment is builtinto the regular procedures for siting,designing and operation of all plants.It is ensured by monitoring and ana-lysing all pathways of transport ofradioactivity. At each nuclear site,Environment Survey Laboratory (ESL)monitors radioactivity in water,vegetation and food products.

During the year, all the atomicenergy establishments not only main-tained but also enriched healthy en-vironment. Environment monitoringwas continued by ESLs. For radioac-tivity content, a large number of sam-ples of air, water, soil and others wereanalysed. Results of the analysesshowed that radiation exposures topublic due to the operation of nuclearfacilities at various sites were wellwithin the limits prescribed by theregulatory bodies.

Environment Raoiological Labora-tory at Kakrapar was equipped withenvironment monitoring set-up andmade operational. To establish thebase-line data for Kakrapar AtomicPower Project (KAPP) environment,health survey around KAPP werecompleted by the South Gujarat Uni-versity and their Biotic Survey in theregion continued. The EnvironmentRadiological Laboratory at Kaiga re-mained engaged in establishingbase-line data. At Kaiga, a SODARlaboratory also started functioningduring the year. The studies by theKarnataka University on impact ofKaiga plant's anticipated dischargesto Kali river and their studies on bio-tic species progressed. The study onthe "Epidemiological studies ofoccupational workers and their fami-lies" awarded by NPC to the TataMemorial Centre also progressed.The status of thermal discharges fromNuclear Power Stations operating inIndia was presented to Expert Com-mittee constituted by the CentralPollution Control Board (CPCB) forreviewing temperature limit for ther-mal discharges.

Air sampler

3 11.4 Emergency Preparedness

The operating plants of DAE con-tinued to carry out various types ofemergency exercises in accordancewith their respective regulatory re-quirements.

3 115 Quality Assurance

Quality Assurance is the key ele-ment of the nuclear safety program-me. Quality assurance audits on ma-jor manufacturers and project siteswere carried out by NPC apart fromongoing quality surveillance on va-rious procured items for projectsunder construction and operating sta-tions. Special services to operatingstations and projects in In-service in-spection was continued. CorporateQuality Assurance Policy Documentwas finalised and released for imple-mentation. Quality Surveillance ser-vices were rendered to other orga-nisations of DAE as required. Alsonon-destructive testing (NDT) ser-vices to external organisations suchas BHEL were rendered as requiredon commercial basis. Developmentefforts of In-service inspection toolswere pursued.

28

The Department has comprehensiveprogramme of development ofbreeder technology aimed atmaximising the use of country'sreserves of uranium and thorium.

• Reactor Engineering• SOOMWe Development• Advanced Heavy Water Reactor• Fast Breeder Test Reactor• PFBR Research and Development

3 12 Reactor Designing andfinanced Reactors

The Department has comprehen-sive programme of development ofbreeder technology aimed at max-imising the use of country's reservesof uranium and thorium. BARC is en-gaged on reactor research directedtowards the development of im-proved and new reactor designs, andfuels such as oxide, carbide and nit-ride fuels. The Indira Gandhi Centrefor Atomic Research (IGCAR) at Kal-pakkam (Tamilnadu) is engaged inthe design and development of tech-nology of sodium cooled fast breederreactors (FBRs), including the de-velopment of various materials, fuel,manufacturing technology for fab-rication of reactor components, fuelreprocessing techniques and alsosafety studies related to FBRs.

3.12.1 Reactor Engineering

Activities to assess and establishthe safety of PHWR coolant channelswere continued at BARC. A systemfor removal of hydrogen bearit.g thinslivers of material from pressuretubes of operating reactors was de-signed and developed for examining

a large number of channels in theoperating reactors. Other significantachievements were the developmentof an Integrated Garter Spring Re-positioning System (INGRES); acoolant channel replacementmachine and a methodology to moni-tor on-line the fatigue life of importantnuclear power plant components.

Advanced computer based instru-mentation for reactor control and pro-cess information & safety systemswas also developed by BARC.

3.12.2 500 PHWR

The engineering design of the 500MWe pressurised heavy water reactor(PHWR), and thorium based adv-anced heavy water reactor (AHWR)remained the main thrust of the R&Dprogramme at BARC, along with thetechnology development for repair &maintenance of operating reactors,qualification of components, de-velopment of diagnostic techniques,reactor safety research and ageingmanagement.

BARC provided support for the de-sign of systems and components ofthe 500 MWe PHWR. Experimental

work in support-of a secondary shutdown system for the reactor madeprogress. Installation of a burst testfacility for determining failurethresholds for pressurised compo-nents continued.

3.12.3 AdvancedReactor

Heavy Water

The design work on AdvancedHeavy water Reactor (AHWR) madesteady progress at BARC. An alterna-tive design of the AHWR core wasalso pursued. Analytical and ex-perimental studies progressed tooptimise the design of special equip-ment for this system.

3.12.4 Breeder Reactors

At IGCAR, the Fast Breeder TestReactor (FBTR) with indigenously de-veloped carbide core, reached apower level of 10.2 MWt in December1993, with the valving-in of water intothe steam generator. Out-of-pilesimulation studies were also con-ducted on carbide fuel to evaluate itsthermal behaviour at various linearheat rating (LHR) which was in-strumental in getting clearance foroperation of FBTR at higher LHR.

Computer designed calandria and quarter dome mesh of 500 MWe pressurised heavy water reactor

Irradiated MAPS fuel bundles inside hot cellat IGCAR

The IGCAR has generatedconsiderable experties in structuralmechanics and thermo-hydraulics tocarryout detailed design of PFBR.

Design analysis and technologydevelopment for 500 MWe prototypefast breeder reactor (PFBR) madefurther progress at Kalpakkam. Withthe objective of cost reduction, stu-dies were carried out with three/twoloop configuration.

The IGCAR has generated con-siderable experties in structuralmechanics and thermo-hydraulics tocarryout detailed design of PFBR.Hydraulic development of primarysodium pump for PFBR was com-pleted on 1/3 scale model. The con-struction of the large component testrig for testing major reactor-components was completed andcommissioning continued. Also, ex-perimental flow induced vibrationstudies on PFBR thermal baffles werecompleted. Other achievements ofthe Centre included completion of in-dustrial validation of processingmaps for 304L, 316L and alloy 09.

At IGCAR the hot cell facility forpost-irradiation examination of irradi-ated fuel and other materials fromFBTR, was made ready for operation.The first batch of capsules for car-rying out fuel irradiation experimentsin FBTR wa? fabricated to stringentspecifications. Eddy current testmethod was successfully developedfor measurement of thickness of alu-minium coating on zinc oxide base,which finds application in insulatormanufacturing industry.

ADVANCEDHEAVY WATER

REACTOR

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FBTR core

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4BEYOND NUCLEAR POWER

The non-electricity applications ofatomic energy are in the areas re-lated to food and agriculture, healthand industry.

4 1 Research Reactors at Trombay

Dhruva, Cirus and Apsara are theoperating research reactors at Trom-bay for the development of reactortechnology and production ofradioisotopes.

Over 400 samples of target mate-rials were irradiated for production ofisotopes for cancer therapy, non-destructive testing, agricultural re-search and preparation of radiophar-maceuticals. Also 2,00,000 Curies of

cobalt-60 was produced and over1000 samples of target materialswere irradiated in Cirus and Apsarafor similar purpose. Irradiation testingof mixed oxide fuel (MOX) and thor-ium fuel pins was continued at Cirus.These reactors also served as invalu-able tools for research in neutron andsolid state physics. Dhruva, a nation-al facility now, was used for researchby various academic institutions inthe country under the ageis of Inter-University Consortium (IUC) for DAEfacilities.

There are plans to refurbish Cirusand Apsara reactors. For refurbishingrequirments of Cirus reactor, detailed

Panoramic view of Dhruva and Cirus at Trombay

Dhruva Building

studies on ageing of various systems,components and structures were car-ried out by BARC. For Apsara, en-gineering design of the modificationwas worked out and the safety analy-

«.H

Cirus and Dhruva produce an almostfull range of radioisotopes to meetdomestic demands. Some are beingexported to the neighbouringcountries also.

sis repor; submitted to At'HR icr safe- developed a comprehensive infras- exported to the neighbouring coun-ty clearance. tructure and know-how in the app'ica- tries also. BARC has acquired con-

tion of radiation technology. Cirus siderable experience and expertise-i .? Radioisotope Production and Dhruva produce an almost full in the processing of reactor pioduced

India is c-r,e of the major radioisc- range of radioisotopes to meet radioisotopes and radiophar-tope producers in the world, it has domestic demands. Some are being maceuticals for a variety of applica-

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Radioisotopes being produced at BARC34

During the period of report over30,000 patients were examined atRadiation Medicine Centre (RMC) ofBARC.

tions. BARC has made substantialcontribution to the development andpromotion of radioisotope and radia-tion applications for the industrialmodernisation of our country.

4 3 Industrial Applications ofRadioisotopes

Its work during the year includedhygienisation of municipal sewagesludge, study of silt movement ordynamics of bedload sediments inports; non-destructive testing byradiography and control of industrialprocesses using nucleonic controlsystems.

During the period of report, agaseous radioactive tracer was suc-

Pipe leakage being detected by usingtracer technique

cessfully used for the first time todetect leaks in a 11 km section of aburied ethylene gas pipeline be-tween Nagothane & Ghansoli inMaharashtra.

The gamma scanning techniquedeveloped in BARC for on-line non-

Brain imagingdone at theRadiationMedicineCentre ofBARC

destructive diagnosis of the malfunc-tioning of distillation and extractioncolumns in oil refineries was suc-cessfully applied in the Indian OilCorporation's Haldia and Gujarat re-fineries. This resulted in large sav-ings by avoiding shut-down of theplants.

Sludge Hygienisation ResearchIrradiator (SHRI) at Baroda continuedto function effectively. BARC plans toextend the facility for the treatment ofsewage effluent in cooperation withthe 'Ganga Action Plan'.

A computerised Industrial IsotopicTomographic Imaging system wasdeveloped by BARC for non-destructive testing of industrialspecimen. The system utilisescaesium-137 source, All its hard &software were built indigenously.

4 4 Radiation Medicine

Radiation Medicine Centre (RMC)of BARC is the regional referal centreof the World Health Organisation(WHO) for South East Asia. It pro-vides clinical and laboratory ser-vices; develops radiopharmaceutic-als, and does research on treatmentof diseases using nuclear medicine.

During the period of report over30,000 patients were examined at

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RMC Radioiodine was administeredto 300 patients for treatment of thyr-otoxicosis. About 280 patients of thyr-oid cancer were investigated and tre-ated. As part of laboratory servicesabout 13,000 in-vitro studies weredone. During the period, 18 differenttypes of ligands based on tech-netium-99m were made available formedical diagnostic purposes.

A cheaper and readily availabletherapy based on phosphorus-32 —orthophosphate administration, wastried to treat patients having intract-able bone pain.

For quick diagnostic tests of TB,antigen was genetically engineeredfor production in large quantities. Itsincreased availability will help in de-veloping polyclonal antibodies andstandardisation of an radioimmu-noassay (RIA) procedure.

and Isotope Tech-4 5 Radiationnology

The Board of Radiation and IsotopeTechnology (BRIT), an industrialorganisation of DAE, produces andsupplies various radioisotope pro-ducts including radiochemicals,radiation sources, radiophar-maceuticals and radioimmunoassay(RIA) kits, carbon-14 and tritium

Thyroid imaging at Radiation Medicine Centre at BARC

labelled compounds, labelledbiomolecules, gamma radiographyand irradiation equipment to users inIndia and abroad. Following workwas carried out by BRIT during theyear:

4.5.1. Radiochemicals

About 58 tera Becquerel (1500

Curie) of reactor produced radioiso-topes were processed lor supply andformulation of radiopharmaceuticals.Labelled agrochemicals were alsosupplied for use in agricultural re-search. Light sources and self-luminous compound were also sup-plied for illumination of instrument di-als and other devices.

During the year radiation sourceswere supplied by BRIT in 2400consignments for use in medicine,agriculture, industry and research.

4.5.2. Radiation Sources

A total of 12 peta Becquerel (330Kilo Curie) of radiation sources weresupplied in 2400 consignments foruse in medicine, agriculture, industryand research. Other supplies fromBRIT included 470 tera Becquerel(12,800 Curies) of iridium-192radiography sources, 10,001) Curiesof cobalt-60 for treatment of cancersand integral source units of high in-tense cobalt 60 sources for gammairradiators, and iridium-192 wire andcaesium-137 after-loading devicesfor use in brachy-therapy.

SALE VALUE OF RADKHSOTOPEPRODUCTS SUPPLIED BY BfUT

RADtOISOTOPES AND IRRADIATION SERVICESFROM BRIT IN ThE YEAR 1903

RESEARCH&

AGRICULTURE(23.4%)

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BRIT supplied 55,000 consignmentsof various radiopharmaceuticals foruse in nuclear medicine enabling anestimated 6.5 lakhs patientinvestigations.

Jonaki laboratory at Hyderabadproduced phosphorus-32 labellednucleotides on regular basis, meetingthe indigenous requirement of thebiomolecules.

Radiopharmaceutical Laboratory at Vashi

4.5.3. Radiopharmaceuticals

BRIT supplied 55,000 consign-ments of various radiopharmaceutic-als for use in nuclear medicine enabl-ing an estimated 6.5 iakhs patientinvestigations. The regional centresat Bangalore and Delhi regularly pro-cessed ready-to-use technetium-99mradiopharmaceuticals for use in localnuclear medicine centres. The cen-tres at Dibrugarh and Bangaloreoffered radioimmunoassay (RIA) ser-vices to local hosptials. Ten lots ofgallium-67 citrate injection proces-sed at VECC, Calcutta were suppliedfor use in Regional Radiation Medi-cine Centre, Calcutta. A wide variety

of materials, used in the production otradiopharmaceuficais were tested bythe Quality Control Group of BRIT.

Further clinical evaluation of tecn-netium-99m ECD for brain imaging\ as carried out

Development work for the prepara-tion of technetium-99m ethylenedicystiene (Tc-EC) was completedand clinical trials planned. The pre-paration of iodine-131 labelled MIBGwas standardised and further work forobtaining approval of Radiophar-maceutical Committee will be under-taken by BRIT soon. The productionof monoclonal antibodies for human

TSH, F3H & prolactin is being takenup in collaboration with the IndianInstitute of Science, Bangalore.

4 5.4 Labelled Compounds

Over 2500 consignments of car-bon-14 & tritium labelled compoundsand over 2000 consignments of phos-phorus-32 & sulphur-35 labelledbiomolecules were supplied. TheJonaki laboratory at Hyderabad pro-duced phosphorus-32 labelled nuc-leotides on regular basis, meetingthe indigenous requirement of thebiomolecules Regular productionand supply of sulphur-35 methionine,an important biomolecule, continued.

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Radiation SterilizationRadioisotope Equipment

Technetium-99m generators

The method for the preparation of sul-phur-35 labelled L-cysteine was alsostandardised. Custom-synthesis ofsome important products for use inbio-medical research was under-taken by BRIT.

4 5.5 Radiation Sterilization

The radiation sterilization servicesoffered by the Isomed plant at Trom-bay were utilised by manufacturers ofmedical products. About 8200 cubicmetres (95,500 cartons) of medicalproducts were sterilized at the plant.The revenue earned by the plant onaccount of irradiation and other ser-vices increased by 36% during theyear. About 100 Kilo Curie cobalt-60source was added to the sourceframe of the Isomed Plant to increaseits processing capacity. A total of 1.6million radiation indicator buttons de-veloped in-house were supplied tousers of Isomed plant for identifica-tion of irradiated products. Biologicalindicators and ceric-cerous dose-meters were also supplied to varioususers. Technical assistance was pro-vided to the irradiation plant Rashmiat the Kidwai Memorial Institute ofOncology, Bangalore for preventivemaintenance work.

4.5.6 Equipment for handlingRadioisotopes

Thirty one remote cable operatedcameras housing iridium-192sources were supplied by BRIT toindustrial users for non-destructivetesting. Efforts are under way to fabri-cate these cameras in bulk to meet

the increasing demand. Familiarisa-tion programme was arranged for in-dustrial personnel in the safe opera-tion of the newly introduced Rolicameras.

One Gamma Chamber unit was ex-ported to Indonesia and another unitwas replenished with cobalt-60source for use in Nagpur University.A multipurpose gamma irradiator wasset up by BARC at the DefenceLaboratory, Jodhpur.

4.5.7 Sale of Radioisotopes

A total of 71,000 consignments ofradioisotopes valued at approx.Rs. 11.70 crore were supplied for usein medicine, agriculture, industry andresearch, registering 34% increaseover the corresponding figure of theprevious year. Radioisotope productsand equipment valued at Rs.55 lakhwere exported to countries such asBangladesh, Cyprus, France, Ghana,Indonesia, Syria, Turkey and Viet-

Isomed plant at Trombay in service of medical industry

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One variety of blackgram and twovarieties of mustard developed atBARC were notified by the Ministryof Agriculture for commercialcultivation.

nam. Against an IAEA order, technic-al assistance was extended to Syriafor setting up a facility for the produc-tion technetium-99m generators re-quired for use in nuclear medicine.BRIT is also participating in 4 co-ordinated research projects spon-sored by the IAEA in the areas ofradiopharmaceuticals development.

4.5.8 New Projects and Schemes

Implementation of BRIT's projectscontinued as part of the VIII Five YearPlan. These projects and schemescover areas such as extension of nuc-lear medicine facilities in (I-.- ountry,upgradation of facilities to.- The pro-duction of radiopharmaceuticals andsetting up of facilities for the produc-tion of radioisotope products. Thework of construction of RadioisotopeEquipment Production Facility at NewBombay progressed significantly.The facility is expected to be oper-ational soon. Under the project onExtension of Nuclear Medicine Facili-ties, financial and technical assist-ance was provided to two hospitals inthe government sector for upgradingtheir nuclear medicine facilities. Fourmore institutions were identified forcreating nuclear medicine facilities.The work on the project for the up-gradation of facilities for the produc-tion of radiopharmaceuticals com-menced and the civil work prog-ressed.

4 6 Nuclear AgriculturePreservation

& Food

The R&D efforts of BARC in the fieldof agriculture are directed towardsthe development of new varieties ofcrop seeds using radiation inducedmutations, micro propagation of eco-nomically important crop plants us-

Rice variety developed at BARC using radiation.

ing tissue culture, achieving im-provements in fertilizer utilisation andprotection of plants against insectpests and studies related to minimis-ing the harmful effect of chemicalpesticides. During the year, the re-search efforts of BARC met with anumber of successes as describedbelow:

4.6.1 Crop Improvement

One variety of blackgram TAU-2and two varieties of mustard TM2 &TM4, were notified by the Ministry of

Tur field

Agriculture for commercial cultiva-tion. The mungbean variety TARM-2,for rabi cultivation, was accepted bythe Maharashtra State Seed Commit-tee for release in Vidarbha region.The large seeded groundnut varietyTG-19A was recommended for re-lease in Konkan region by the jointAGRESCO Meeting 1993. During1993, the seed production program-me of Maharashtra State Seed Cor-poration is expected to produce ab-out 3100 metric tons (te) of seeds ofTrombay varieties of pulse and oil

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The development of photo-insensitivemutant of Sesbania rostrata byBARC is a breakthrough in greenmanure technology.

At BARC about 10,000 plants wereregenerated through tissue culture.

Fruit bearing banana plant grown fromthe tissues cultured at BARC

seeds. During the period of report,BARC conducted fertilizer field trialswith ammonium polyphosphate (APP)under the Directorate of Rice Re-search. These trials showed that APPperformed better than diammoniumphosphate (DAP) as a fertilizer. Treat-ment of potato crop with spray for-mulation containing granulosis viruswas found to be more effective inreducing potato tuber moth infesta-tion than the suppressive agents. Sixfungal isolates capable of degradingDDD (major metabolite of DDT) wereisolated at Trombay and enhanceddegradation of DDD was observed bythe combination of the two isolates.

The development of photo-insensitive mutant of Sesbania rostra-ta by BARC is a breakthrough ingreen manure technology. This greenmanure plant provides nitrogen fixing

nodules on stem in addition to rootnodules. The radiation mutant of Ses-bania developed by BARC is super-ior to the parent variety in phytomassand nitrogen yield.

4.6.2 Tissue CultureAt BARC about 10,000 plants were

regenerated through tissue culture.Hundred tissue culture raised bana-na plants of three varieties were

Irradiated and unirradiated onions. 8ARC has fully developed technology of irradiationof food items.

BARC developed Solar Dryers — a boon to farmers

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Research and developmentprogramme was continued on thepreservation and hygienisation ofperishable foods in the natural formby gamma irradiation and othermeans.

planted at Trombay and 400-600plants of each variety were given tothe Maharashtra State Seeds Cor-poration and Gujarat State Fertilizersfor multi-locational field trials. Fieldtrials conducted at Trombay showedthat tissue culture raised plants werematuring early and the fruit yieldswere significantly higher.

4.6.3 Food Preservation

Research and development prog-ramme was continued on the pre-servation and hygienisation of perish-able foods in the natural form bygamma irradiation and other means.Installation of a transportable demon-stration irradiator for onion, alongwith source container and accessor-ies was completed. A method wasdeveloped for the detection of in-fested mangoes by X-ray imaging.

A process was developed at Trom-bay for the liquefaction of non-conventional fruits such as ber, ram-phal, custard apple, pomegranateand guava by a pectolytic enzymecomplex. This process has a majorcommercial potential.

4/6.4 Water Management

The studies conducted by BARC inthe detection of seepages from thedams, ground water recharges, waterfloor of rivers and others, usingradioisotopes, has contributed tosafety and prevention of loss of water

Desalination technologies have beendeveloped at BARC which provide waterfor drinking and industrial use. The pictureabove shows 425 cubic metre per daymultistage flash desalination plant of BARC

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The research centres ot DAE areengaged in the forefront of researchand technologica1 development inhigh-tech areas

and better water management. Stu-dies were also made on Groundwaterrecharges in Maharashtra. Gujaratand Punjab.

Work on development of economi-cally viable technologies for de-salination of sea water to producepotable as well as industrial qualitywater is being pursued in BARC. Thepilot scale multistage flash (MSF) de-salination plant of 425 cum/daycapacity at Trombay, was operated.Using sea water feed, the plant pro-duced potable water. A ship bornedesalination plant of capacity 30 met-ric tons/day, using multistage flashprocess was also designed and setup. Its performance was also demon-strated. Based on the MSF technolo-gy, engineering design of plant oflarger capacity was finalised for set-ting up in a water scarce region in thecountry.

The plant set up at VECC, Calcutta,based on Reverse Osmosis process,for production of low conductivity wa-ter operated satisfactorily.

PHWR coolant channel cutting machine - designed and fabricated in BARC and usedfor cutting a defective channel in NAPS-I

A robot developed at BARC

Remote handling operations in hot cells

Hightechnoiogy

The research centres of DAE areengaged in the forefront of researchand technological development inhigh-tech areas such as lasers, plas-ma, sophisticated instruments, com-puters, magneto-hydrodynamics andnew materials. A number of signifi-cant achievements were made in allthese areas.

4.7.1 Remote Handling & Robotics

Research and development prog-rammes of BARC continued to meet

Research was conducted at Trombayand other research centres of DAEon several promisingsuperconducting materials.

Parallel processing computerAnupam has demonstrated its rapidcomputing capability for variousnumber-crunching scientific jobs.

the needs of the nuclear energy prog-ramme in the areas of interventionrobotics, automation and remotisa-tion, which are vital for safe opera-tions in radiation environment. Thebenefits of these efforts in this front-line field were also extended to thenon-nuclear sectors such as manu-facturing industries and defence. Thelatest achievements 'in robotics in-cluded a flexible assembly networkfor automated assembly of compo-nents in hazardous environment, afive axis robot for neutron tomogra-phy and an integrated automationsystem for MOX fuel fabrication.

4.7.2 Superconductors

Research was conducted at Trom-bay and other research centres ofDAE on several promising supercon-ducting materials.

A bismuth monolayer cuprate su-perconductor with a superconductingtransition temperature of 70 Kelvinwas synthesised at Trombay. A newseries of superconducting cupratesincorporating double fluorite slabwas also synthesised and a max-imum superconducting transitiontemperature of 30 Kelvin wasobtained.

High phase purity crystals of hightemperature superconductors (HTSC)were grown. Superconducting filmsof YBa2 Cu3 Ox were also grown.Fundamental investigations relatedto the deposition behaviour of the in-dividual constituents of the HTSCmaterials, were conducted. A novelcircuit for automatic pulse measure-ment of current-voltage characteris-tics and critical current of supercon-ductors was developed.

Lysozyme. Folding pattern of thepolypeptide chain. Model is basedon a structure refined at 1.5angstrom resolution

Superconducting wire drawn at 8ARC

4.7.3 Parallel Processing

An 8-node parallel processing sys-tem capable of 52m FLOPS speedwas upgraded to 24 nodes with thricethe speed. This was about 5.6 timesfaster than IBM RS 6000/560 systemand would be very useful in tacklingcomplex computations as in the areaof fluid dynamics. The parallel pro-cessing system will be marketed byECIL under the brand name Anupam*.Anupam has demonstrated its rapidcomputing capability for variousnumber-crunching scientific jobssuch as computer simulation of

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molecular structure and pressureprofile studies for aerodynamic ap-plications.

4.7.4 Cryogenics

A commercial SQUID-based mag-netometer was installed by CAT.

4.7.5 Plasma and Magneto-hydrodynamics (MHD)

Studies related to the basic pro-cesses and technological applica-tions of plasma jet devices were con-tinued during this period. A singlewire transferred metal spray plasmatorch was developed and operated.Trial coatings of molybdenum ondifferent substrates were done. Aplasma melting torch, currently underdevelopment, was operated at 75 kWpower level. Plasma sprayed bio-ceramic coatings were also pre-pared.

The liquid metal magneto-hydrodynamic system was operatedand valuable data generated on theoperating characteristics of varioussubsystems.

Plasma simulation

An image processing package wasdeveloped by BARC for building3-dimensional images.

A thermal ionisation massspectrometer with a large analyserwas developed for the isotopicanalysis of nuclear fuel materials.

4.7.6 Other Areas

An image processing package wasdeveloped by BARC for building 3-dimensional images. A multitranspu-ter based CAMAC data acquisitionsystem was developed and installed.

A thermal ionisation mass spectro-meter with a large analyser was de-veloped for the isotopic analysis ofnuclear fuel materials. A laser basedResonance lonisation Mass Spectro-meter for detecting atoms and mole-cules at extremely low concentrationswas also designed and fabricated atTrombay. It was possible to detectsodium down to the level of 100atoms with this system.

Mixed oxide crystals of bismuthand germanium (BGO) upto 70 mmlength were successfully grown. Thishas potential use in medical electro-nics. Boron coated ion chamber wasalso developed for space criticalnuclear applications.

Several major design improve-ments were made on the boron car-bide production furnace to enhanceits operational efficiency as well asthe quality and yield of the carbidepowder.

Beryllium mirror substrate was pro-duced for application in the INSAT 2VHRR project of space programme.

4 8 Accelerator Programme

4.8.1 Variable Energy Cyclotron

The Variable Energy CyclotronCentre (VECC) at Calcutta is a nation-al facility for basic and applied re-search in nuclear and allied scien-ces, engaged in many fields includ-ing production of cyclotron based

Catalyst based long life,sealed-off, carbon dioxide laser developed at BARC

A PC interfaced CAMAC crate controller developed at BARC

Bismuth Germanate crystals developed in BARC

Work connected with the conversionof the existing Van-de-Graaffaccelerator at Trombay into a 7million volt folded tandem ionaccelerator (FOTIA) reachedcompletion.

radioisotopes fcr pharmaceutical anddiagnostic purposes. It runs a Re-gional Radiation Medicine Centre in

Nd-Yag laser rods developed in BARC

Dhniva fuelling machine bellowindigenously developed at Trombay

collaboration with a Cancer CentreCalcutta. The Ce.itre is also collabor-ating with laboratories abroad in fron-tier areas of research. The Centreoperates the largest accelerator inthe country and has been producingproton, deutron and alpha particlebeams for users from various insti-tutes.

During the year, routine productionof radioisotopes gallium-67 wasstreamlined. A second gammacamera was installed at the RegionalRadiation Medicine Centre to cater tothe diagnostic needs of the cancerpatients of the eastern region. A plan-ned replacement and updating of va-rious sub-systems of the cyclotron isunder way. The superconducting

cyclotron, reached the initial phase ofconstruction.

4.8.2 Pelletron

The 14 million volt pelletronaccelerator, set-up at TIFR continuedto operate efficiently, serving as atool for research in nuclear physics,and providing a variety of heavy ionbeams ranging from lithium to scan-dium. Several experiments made useof the bunched beam from this faci'ity. During the year, the beam trans-mission through the machine wasfurther improved. Fabrication of acryostat for mounting four quarterwave resonators and its vacuum test-ing was completed. Fabrication of thetwo resonators was also completed.

4.8.3 Van-de-Graaff Accelerator

Work connected with the conver-sion of the existing Van-de-Graaffaccelerator at Trombay into a 7 mil-lion volt folded tandem ion accelera-tor (FOTIA) is reached completion.

Vacuum hot pressed beryllium block 200mm dia prepared in BARC

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SARC n'irj CAT ?.- laser

Microtron Magnet fabricated at CAT, Indore

Variable Energy Cyclotron at Calcutta. The cyclotron is a national facility

Design calculations were taken upfor the development of industrialelectron accelerators based on dyna-mitron and induction Linacs for va-rious industrial applications.

4.8.4 Accelerator programme at CAT

The microtron for lndus-1, one ofthe two synchrotron radiationsources, was commissioned atCAT, Indore. Optimisation of the cavitywas carried out to achieve the designcurrent density. Assembly of thebooster ring progressed and all thesubsystems were tested and madeready. RF cavity for booster was fabri-cated and tested with all its subsys-tems and controls, its characteriza-tion completed, and positioned in thering.

The magnets for the booster, dipoleas well as quadrupoles, were placedin its position in the ring. Two beam

profile monitors for booster ring werealso fabricated and placed in posi-tion after their characterization tests.

Prototype dipole magnet for Indus-2 was designed and fabricated. Finaltest of this magnet is underway.

Miscellenous

The 12 MeV microtron, for use as amedical machine, was also madeready with all its subsystems by CAT.A triode electron gun using grid puls-ing technique was also developed byCAT for use in industrial Linacs andinjectors. A computer network CAT-NET was implemented to strengthencommunications.

4 9 Laser Programme

BARC and CAT are pursuing laserprogrammes directed towards de-velopment of various applications oflasers in industry, medicine, and re-

2MV Tendem accelerator indigenously developed and installed at the MaterialsScience Division, IGCAR

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The Centre for AdvancedTechnology (CAT) hascomprehensive programmes for thedevelopment of lasers especially ofthe high power pulses variety,accelerators, cryogenic technologyand others.

12 MeV microtron made ready by CAT.

The microtron is used as a medical machine

search. During the year, the researchand development activities related totunable dye lasers, gas lasers andtheir applications were continued. AnNd-glass laser capable of generatinghigh focal intensities is under de-velopment. This laser is useful in thestudy of materials subjected to shockpressure in the range of severalmegabars. Amplifiers needed toraise the output energy of the pulse to1 Joule are under fabrication.

A sealed-off carbon-dioxide laser,incorporating a catalytic carbonmonoxide-oxygen recombiner wasdeveloped at BARC for improved life-time ana output power. Isotope selec-tive, infrared multiple photon dis-sociation techniques were also de-veloped for production of carbon-13on lab scale.

The Laser Data communicator de-veloped earlier at Trombay was suc-cessfully tested. Improved model ofthe communicator with new receiveroptics is undergoing tests for a rangeof more than 4km.

The Centre for Advanced Technol-ogy (CAT) has comprehensive prog-rammes for the development of lasersespecially of the high power pulsesvariety, accelerators, cryogenic tech-nology and others. The centre hasbeen developing synchrotron radia-tion sources.

RF cavity developed at CAT

150MV accelerator set up at IGCAR — aunique facility in the country for obtainingenergy and mass analysis of gaseous ions

The production unit at CAT was setup for supply of lasers and laserbased instruments to other users inthe country.

CAT has been developing lasersfor applications in industry, medicineand research sectors. During the yeara compact prototype transverse flowcarbon dioxide {COZ) laser of 4 KWoutput power with an electro-opticefficiency of 15% was developed.This input power density is compara-ble to the highest values reported sofar for this type of laser. Three typesof Nd:YAG lasers, with different mod-es of operation were developed.

Transversly excited sealed-off nit-rogen lasers with average power upto3.5 m W were also developed. Anexcimer laser giving 30 mJ energyper pulse with 1 Hz repetition ratewas developed. Low pressure opera-tion of the krypton fluoride (KrF) laserwith argon as the buffer gas was alsodemonstrated. A copper bromide las-er with lower working temperatureand higher efficiency, was designed,assembled and operated at CAT.Optimization of the laser operation isin progress. The Centre also investi-gated the optical limiting ofnanosecond duration visible laser

Multibeam laserdeveloped at CAT

Power meters developed at CAT

1 : - ' - • .

pulses for understanding the under-lying physical mechanism.

An NdPhosphate glass laser chainwas developed for studies ofXUV and soft x-ray generation fromlaser produced plasmas.

The production unit at CAT was setup for supply of lasers and laserbased instruments to other users inthe country.

Laser-Tissue Interaction

Under the medical applications oflasers, studies are being conducted

Cartoon dioxide laser setup at CAT.Such lasers can be used for cuttinghard materials.

A seismic net work of threeindependent seismograph stations,was set up near Gulbarga to monitorthe after-shock seismic activity in thearea.

•Research in Physical Sciences•Research in Chemical Sciences

at CAT on laser tissue interactions.During the year autofluorescencespectra of malignant and adjoiningnormal human tissue were recordedand observations made.

4.10 Research in Physical Sci-ences

Research encompasses a numberof areas such as nuclear physics,solid state physics, crystallography,reactor neutron physics, spectros-copy, seismology and gamma rayastronomy.

Two X-ray diffraction set ups withdiamond cells were coupled to a Wkilowatt rotating anode. The rubyfluorescence spectrometer, used forpressure calibration, was completelyautomated. Using this equipment,new high pressure transitions inseveral materials were discovered.

After the devastating earthquakethat struck the South-Central Mahar-ashtra, a temporary seismic net workof three independent seismographstations, was set up near Gulbarga tomonitor the after-shock seismic activ-ity in the area.

A number of hardware and softwarewere developed for the TACTIC andMYSTIQUE gamma ray astronomy ex-periments proposed to be set up,under project GRACE, at Gurushikar,Rajasthan. Contour maps of both thesites were generated after civilsurvey.

'• ' ' Research in Chemical Sci-ances

Basic research in the field of che-mical sciences is directed towardsareas such as chemical dynamics,radiation and photo-chemistry, laser

Ultrasonic C-scan imaging system for visualising defects in metallic samples

Gamma ray computed tomographic imaging system

50

The indigenous laboratory facility fordeposition o' diamond lilms becamefunctional and good crystallinediamond deposits were obtained.

chemistry, interfacial phenomena,catalysis, radiation damage studieson organometallics, high pressurestudies on materials, transport prop-erties of metal oxides and hydrogenstorage materials. This is in additionto the synthesis of high technologymaterials. Some of the major activi-ties are outlined below.

The indigenous laboratory facilityfor deposition of diamond films be-came functional and good crystallinediamond deposits were obtained.

Technology for the production ofpressure sensitive adhesive was de-veloped. This technology will betransferred to private sector for com-mercial exploitation.

A chemical process, with thenecessary chemical formulations wasdeveloped for the decontamination ofreactor systems. The efficacy of theprocess was demonstrated by thesuccessful decontamination of theprimary heat transport system ofMAPS-1.

Expertise in nuclear chemistry wasutilised in the calibration of the gam-ma ray spectrometer to be installed inthe payload of SROSS series satellitefor investigating gamma ray bursts.

A methodology was developed forthe determination of hydrogen attrace levels in zircaloy samples usingspark source mass spectrometry.This was successfully employed tofind out the reasons for the failure ofreactor fuels. Same technique was inuse to determine the hydrogen con-tent in small samples scrapped fromirradiated coolant channels inPHWRs.

An image processing system wasdeveloped for various applications inbiology including generation of DNAsequence from sequencing outradiograms.

•'< ' ? Research in Life Sciences

The thrust of the R&D efforts en-compassed fields like bio-organicchemistry, plant bio-technology,molecular biology, radiation biology,food technology and enzyme en-gineering. Salient activities of BARCin this area are as follows:

An image processing system wasdeveloped for various applications inbiology including generation of DNAsequence from sequencing out radio-grams.

Studies on yield potentiation bypresoaking the groundnut and mung-bean seeds with plant growth regula-tors yielded encouraging results.

The biological effects of life timeexposures to low levels of naturallyoccurring radiation were understudy. During the year, cord bloodfrom 932 new borns from high back-

Eddy current impedance imaging of a corrosion

ground radiation areas (Kerala mona-zite region) and 837 new borns fromcontrol areas was processed forKaryotype analysis. No significantdifference in the frequency ofchromosome aberrations betweenthe two groups was observed.

The heterocyclic amine imrdazo-quinoline was found to be highly

Remotely operated CNC milling & drilling machine developed by IGCAR

51

mutagenic in salmonella typhimur-ium strains TA 98 and TA 100. Withmetabolic activation its mutagenicitywas observed.

The efficacy of synthetic pher-omone of cotton pests was estab-lished in field trials. The scale-up forthe synthesis of the same pheromonewas undertaken and pheromones ofpests of spices and queen-bee werealso synthesised.

Investigations were made on themechanism of growth inhibition ofmouse fibrosarcoma by pretrans-plantation local hyperthermia.

HIV-protease enzyme is essentialfor the maturation and infectivity ofthe AIDS virus. In a collaborativestudy with the National Cancer Insti-tute, USA, structure of HIV-proteasecomplexed to a series of inihibitors ofdiffering potencies was determined.These studies have given structuraldata that are being used to designinhibitors with better pharmaco-kinetic properties.

Thyristor based chopper devised by BARC for Indian Railways.

4.13 Technology Transfer

Over the years, a number of tech-nologies have been developed asthe spin-off of research and develop-ment carried out at the research cen-tres of the Department. During theyear BARC transferred followingtechnologies:

1. Synthesis of invert sugar syrup.2. Manufacture of low carbon ferro

alloys3. Design & fabrication of ozone

generate

4. Production of Boron powder

Besides, twelve memorandum ofunderstanding (MOUs) were signedby BARC with organisations such asNTPC, TIFR, Indian Railways andDRDO for transfer of technologiesand know-how. In addition, the con-su'tancy services were also providedto a number of agencies.Other orga-nisations of DAE have also setup theirtechnology transfer groups.

52

5PUBLIC SECTOR

The Department has four publicsector undertakings namely the Nuc-lear Power Corporation of India Ltd.(NPC), Uranium Corporation of IndiaLtd.(UCIL), Indian Rare EarthsLtd.(IRE) and Electronics Corporationof India Ltd. (ECIL).

NPC, which is responsible for nuc-lear power generation, has alreadybeen discussed. Mining and proces-

Seven degree decline, where ore is being hauled up'by low profile dump truck.

Mining operations Yellow Cake

UCIL took up construction ofNarwapahar mine for producing 1000tonnes of ore pei day.

The expansion of Jaduguda mill, fortreating uraniun ore fromNarwapahar, was also taken up.

sing of uranium, thorium and rareminerals such as ilmenite, rutile andothers are done by UCIL and IRE, andECIL supports DAE'a nuclear powerprogramme by meeting its needs ofcontrol & instrumentation systems.ECIL also meets the needs of nationalactivities such as telecommunica-tions, defence, civil aviation, steel &petrochemical industries, thermalpower projects, insurance & bankingand railways. Following is their per-formance profile.

5 1 Uranium Corporation of IndiaLtd.

5.1.1. Performance

The Company' showed improvedperformance during 1992-93 as com-

pared with the previous year. Thecapacity utilization of Jaduguda mineand mill was over 86% and 87% asagainst about 82% for the both in theprevious year respectively. Perform-ance of Bhatin Mines also improved, toUtilization of this Mine exceeded64% as compared to about 62% inthe previous year. However, produc-tion of the by-products — copperconcentrates and magnetites, wasslightly less than the previous year.The uranium recovery from coppertailings increased by over 12%.

During the year 1992-93 the Com-pany's income increased fromRs. 39.29 crores of the previous yearto over Rs. 42.49 crores. The grossand net profits were Rs. 3.7 croresand Rs. 1.46 crores respectively. The

INCOME

Company's contribution towardstaxes was Rs. 8.53 crores. In this yearthe Company also issued equityshares of Rs. 46.00 crores. The autho-r e d and subscribed share capital ofthe Company now stands atRs. 240.00 crores and Rs. 170.17crores respectively with reserves andsurplus figures at Rs. 28.02 crores.

5.1.2 New Projects

UCIL took up construction of Nar-wapahar mine for producing 1000tonnes of ore per day. The mine con-struction work progressed satisfac-torily. The expansion of Jadugudamill, for treating uranium ore fromNarwapahar, was also taken up. InJaduguda Mine the third stage ofshaft sinking made progress. Theshaft is being sunk to mine ore fromdepths of 555 metre level to about900 metres. The Uranium RecoveryPlant, to recover uranium concentratefrom copper tailings at Mosabani,was also expanded. A techno-economic feasibility report ofDomiasiat Uranium Project in Megha-laya was prepared.

:") 2 Indian Rare Earths Ltd.

IRE operates a Rare Earths Plant atAlwaye which processes monazitefrom the beach sands and two Miner-al Sands Separation Plants, one atChavara in Kerala and the other atManavalakurichi in Tamil Nadu whichproduce minerals such as ilmenite,rutile, monazite, zircon, garnet andsillimanite. The Company also oper-ates Minerals Sands Separation Plantin Orissa where ilmenite is furtherbeneficiated by chemical process.The company also manages Thoriumfactory at Trombay.

54

Manvalakuruchi Plant for mining zircon sands (Tamilnadu). 5.2.1 Performance

Despite adverse market condi-tions, during 1992-93 the companyregistered a profit of about Rs. 0.64crores before tax. While the SouthernUnits made a net profit of Rs. 25.66crores, the losses of OSCOMamounted to Rs. 25.02 crores whichMagnetic Separation of Mineral Sand,Chavara (Kerala).

Research and Development work pertaining to Mineral Separation at Chavara

Products of IRE are used in a number ofconsumer goods such as paints and pig-ments.

55

The main thrust of research &development of IRE was aimed atimprovement in the working of themineral separation plants,improvement in quality, production ofindividual rare earths anddevelopment of new products.

Financial Results:

1.2.

3.4.5.6.

Sales Turnover & other incomeCost of sales(excl. Depreciation, D.R. Exp.& provision for taxes)Profit/Loss (1-2)Net Profit/LossForeign Exchange EarningsProduction (Value)

Southern

73.7544.80

28.9525.6628.98 N

78.71

1992-93

OSCOM

20.0639.91

-19.84- 25.02

17.519.68

Total

93.8184.71

9.110.64

46.4988.39

Southern

72.9645.40

27.5524.5127.1674.82

(Rs.

1991-92

OSCOM

15.8829.69

-13.80-23.4212.2012.66

in Crores)

TotalUnits

88.8475.09

13.751.09

39.3687.48

altered the total profits. The turnoverfor the year 1993-94 is expected to beRs. 104 crores, of which Rs. 51 croreswould represent foreign exchangeearnings.

Production

To improve the quality of ilmeniteat Chavara the Company is carryingout modification works on the existingplant. The capacity utilisation of theMineral Sand Separation Plant atOSCOM is being improved by settingup additional dredge-and-wet con-centration plant. Preliminary work hasbeen taken up. Programmes of valueadded production are also underway,in the Manavalakurichi and RareEarths Plant.

Research & Development

The main thrust of research & de-velopment of IRE was aimed at im-provement in the working of themineral separation plants, improve-ment in quality, production of indi-vidual rare earths and developmentof new products. Studies were car-ried out to augment production of sil-

limanite and garnet, and to improvethe quality of zircon in all the units.Schemes were finalised to replacesome of the dry operations by wetoperations.

Solvent extraction process was de-veloped for the production of ultra-pure yttrium oxide. As high gradeyttrium oxide finds extensive applica-tions in artificial diamonds, phos-phors and superconducting mate-rials, an industrial unit on this pro-cess is therefore proposed to be setup. IRE also developed solvent ex-traction process to recover rareearths such as neodymium praseody-mium, lanthanum and cerium.

5.2.2 Future Outlook

The Company is exploring possibi-lities of setting up joint ventures withforeign equity participation, primarilyto rehabilitate OSCOM. Joint Ven-tures with local participation are alsobeing explored for production ofvalue added products. During 1993-94, the company hopes to sustain ifsoperations and improve profitability.

56

5 3 Electronics Corporation ofIndia Ltd.

ECIL supports DAE's nuclear pow-er programmes by meeting its needsof Control & Instrumentation Systemsbesides catering to other core sec-tors such as telecommunications, de-fence, civil aviation, steel & petroche-mical industries, thermal power pro-jects, insurance & banking sectorand railways.

5.3.1 Performance

During the year 1992-93 operationsof ECIL significantly improved result-ing in achieving a turnaround. Pro-duction of Rs. 252 crores and grossincome of Rs. 290 crores wasachieved registering a growth of 34%in production and 27% in gross in-come over the previous year. Thethrust areas namely computers, com-munications and controls continuedto be the major contributors.

For the yeaF 1993-94, ECIL has setitself targets of Rs. 290 crores for pro-duction and Rs. 300 crores for netincome. These are about 20% higher

Efforts made by ECIL to improve theorder-book position have resulted insecuring about Rs. 390 crores worthof orders during the year 1993-94.

than the production of Rs.252 crores,and the net income of Rs. 249 croresachieved during 1992-93.

During the year 1993-94, ECIL hassupplied Rs. 29 crores worth of con-trol & instrumentation equipment toAtomic Power Projects (Kaiga-1&2,RAPP-3&4) as against Rs. 17 croresworth of supplies during 1992-93. Italso continued to contribute to thecore sectors such as power, oil, steel,communications and defence.

A sectorwise breakup of the sup-plies during 1993-94 are given in theTable as follows:

ECIL has successfully commis-sioned the curtain antenna phase-llfor AIR and developed computerisedlaser identity card printing systems(CLIPS) in collaboration with BARCfor supply to Assam, Meghalaya andother border states. The Companyhas also made significant entry intothe banking sector with the commis-sioning of software for total branchautomation. It has taken the technicalknow-how from C-DoT for the MAX-Lexchange (1000 lines) and is in theprocess of producing the first unit.

Efforts made by ECIL to improvethe order-book position have resulted

Clips.

Gamma camera manufactured by ECIL

Sector

Control & Instumentation(DAE and non-DAE)Computers & Computer SystemsCommunication EquipmentStrategic ElectronicsComponents & Special ProductsIndustrial & Consumer Electronics

Total

Supplies

Expected1993-94

80

90585

2242

297

Executed1992-93

(in crores)-67

7653

5.52028

249.5

in securing about Rs. 390 croresworth of orders during the year 1993-94.

5.3.2 ECIL, realising the chal-lenges which it has to face as a pub-lic sector enterprise in competingwith the multinational and privatesector companies in the changed en-vironment, is evolving its ownstrategies to cope-up with them. It isalso implementing an action plan toobtain ISO-9000 certification shortly.

57

6SUPPORT TO RESEARCH

DAE has been promoting researchand development in universities andinstitutions for developing a broadbase for the growth of nuclear andallied sciences, engineering andtechnology.

6 1 Financial Support

Through the Board of Research inNuclear Sciences (BRNS), DAE hasbeen promoting research and de-velopment in universities and institu-tions for developing a broad base forthe growth of nuclear and allied sci-ences, engineering and technology.Over the years, BRNS has grown tobecome one of the major researchfunding agencies, responsible forproviding financial assistance for theresearch projects, fellowships suchas DAE-Bombay University col-laborative scheme, Dr. K.S. KrishnanDAE Research Fellowship etc., andfunding conferences and seminarsorganised by DAE and outside agen-cies.

During the year, BRNS recom-mended financial assistance for 188renewal projects and 42 new re-search projects with a total expendi-ture of around Rs. 4 crores, and alsoguided and financed 68 symposia/conferences with a budget provisionof Rs. 50 lakhs. A sum of Rs. 35 lakhswas budgeted for the award of fel-lowships to talented students for re-search in different disciplines in uni-versitities and institutions.

The Department also providesgrant to its aided institutions namelythe Tata Institute of Fundamental Re-search (TIFR) and Tata MemorialCentre (TMC) at Bombay, Saha Insti-tute of Nuclear Physics at Calcutta,and the Institute of Physics (IOP) atBubaneshwar. The Institute of Mathe-matical Sciences, Madras, Mehta Re-search Institute of Mathematics andMathematical Sciences, Allahabadand National Board of HigherMathematics Bombay are also sup-ported by DAE.

Mirror basket for the gamma ray telescope fabrication at BARC

During the year, the grants pro-vided by DAE to its aided institutionsare as under.

With the objective of improving thecancer control measures in the coun-try, the Department has also beenproviding financial assistance to

some of the leading cancer centres inthe country. During the year financialassistance was granted to cancer re-search centres given below.

During the year 1993-94, a sum otRs. 1.74 crores was provided in thebudget to the National Board for

Institution

Tata Instt. of Fundamental ResearchTata Memorial CentreSaha Institute of Nuclear PhysicsInstitute of PhysicsInstitute of Mathematical SciencesMehta Research InstituteAtomic Energy Education Society

Budget Provision1993-94

(Rupees in Crores)

73.1226.958.433.772.702.152.30

58

The Giant Metrewave RadioTelescope (GMRT) is a globallyunique facility tor front-line researchin radio- astronomy being set up byTIFR near Pune.

1. uancer Institute, Adyar, Madras Rs. 67.61 lakhs2. Regional Cancer Centre, Trivandrum Rs. 20.00 lakhs3. Kamala Nehru Memorial Hospital, Allahabad Rs. 14.73 lakhs4. Borooah Cancer Institute, Guwahati Rs. 88.33 lakhs

Higher Mathematics (NBHM), Bom-bay for the development of mathema-tics in the country.

Major Projects

The Giant Metrewave Radio Tele-

scope (GMRT) near Pune (Maharash-tra) and VOICE project of TIFR, andthe Advanced Centre for Treatment,Research & Education in Cancer(ACTREC) of TMC are funded byDAE. Their progress during theperiod of Report is as follows:

6.2.1 Giant Metrewave Radio Tele-scope

The Giant Metrewave Radio Tele-scope (GMRT) is a globally uniquefacility for front-line research in radio-astronomy being set up by TIFR nearPune. During the year, erection of 10dishes was completed and two ofthem were fitted with electronic re-ceiver system. Preliminary astrono-mical observations also commenced.GMRT will have 30 gigantic para-bolic dishes, each of 45 metre indiameter, capable of picking up very

;«,*—"*

An artist's view of the Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research & Education in Cancer being set up at New Bombay59

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bombay

faint radiowaves from distant cosmicobjects.

6.2.2 ACTREC Project

Phase I activity of the AdvancedCentre for Treatment, Research &Education in Cancer (ACTREC) atNew Bombay was continued. Con-struction work has commenced anddrawings for research centre werefinalised.

6.2.3 VOICE Project

TIFR successfully completedVOICE project, conducted under theaegis of the United Nations Develop-ment Programme (UNDP) and theGovernment of India, through suc-cessful demonstration of speech rec-ognition and synthesis.

Following are the details of re-search and development done by theaided Institutes of DAE.

6 3 Tata Institute of FundamentalResearch

The Tata Institute of FundamentalResearch (TIFR) remained engagedin front-line research in mathematics,physics, astronomy, computer scien-ce, chemical physics and molecularbiology. Research & developmentalworks in different applied fields alsocontinued. Other works includedepidemiological studies on oral can-

cer, science education and popular-isation.

The School of Mathematics madesubstantial contributions in variousfields of mathematics.

In theoretical particle physics, tausignals were proposed to detect R-parity breaking at LEP 200 experi-ment at CERN. Research in mathema-tical physics included the study of

A heat capacity set-up of top-loading type developed in the Solid State PhysicsGroi

60

Giant Metre Wave Radio Telescope being built at Narayangaon, nearPune, Maharashtra

black-hole of 2- dim. In theoreticalcondensed matter physics, a gener-alized spin singlet pairing theory ofsuperconductivity in layered high cri-tical temperature (Tc) materials wasproposed.

Bimodal distribution of the rotationperiods of T-Tauri stars was shown tobe the natural consequence of theinteraction between dynamo-generated magnetic fields of thesestars and the accretion disks sur-rounding them. A second order Lag-rangian equation for the non-linearevolution of collision less dark matterwas derived.

Confirmation of the existence oftwin peaks in TeV gamma ray phaso-gram and detection of a dust ring inthe X-ray bright elliptical galaxy NGC3607 were notable activities.

Another notable study was on theindividual anomalous cosmic rayevents observed in the Anuradhacosmic ray experiment conducted onboard Spacelab-3.

In a major international collabora-tion at European Centre For NuclearResearch (CERN) Geneva, TIFR sci-entists determined Z0 parametersfrom the L3 data. For accessing themuon chamber signal in the forth-coming LEP 200 experiment,3000readout PC boards were assembledat TIFR. The Institute has also beenparticipating in the DZERO experi-ment, an international collaboration

in operation at Fermilab's proton-antiproton collider.

Non-linear optics experiments onfour-wave mixing were performed onthe biological molecule, bacteriorho-dopsin, and an unexpectedly largenonlinear response was discovered.Preferential vibrational excitation inN2(B3 Cg) was observed for the firsttime in ion-ion mutual neutralizationof N + with F- studied with the flowingafterglow technique.

For Superconducting LINAC Boos-ter Project, the first quarter wave re-sonator fabricated indigenously wassuccessfully tested.

The transport properties (electricalresistivity, thermopower and thermalconductivity) of (Sm1_xYx)Cu2 andRCu2 (R + Gd, Pr, Tb) systems werestudied at low temperatures whichgave new insights into the complexmagnetic properties of these com-pounds.

Superconductivity with criticaltemperature as high as 14K, wasobserved in a ternary. Studies on thebehaviour of tiny crystallites gaveuseful information.

Other researches included inves-tigation of layer InGaAs on GaAs andInP substrates, and a novel combina-tion of technique for the measurementof relaxation. Pulsed Laser Deposi-tion technique was used to grow su-perconducting thin films(YBa2Cu3O7-) and a high value of

critical current density Tc wasobtained.

The time resolved electron spin re-sonance technique was used to studyp-benzoquinone excitation, and con-formational and functional studies ona number of proteins and peptideswere carried out.

Steady state and transient kineticstudies of the interaction of metalions with xanthine oxidase unfoldedmechanism of the inhibition of its ox-idoreductase activity.

Important studies on muscle de-velopment in Drosophila were alsoconducted. Some of the genes likelyto be involved in the development orphysiology of neural circuits' be-haviour, were cloned and characte-rized. Progress was made in the char-acterization of several enhancers ofshibire, a temperature sensitivemutation known to induce defects inendocytosis.

The two tier teacher-training prog-ramme of the Homi Bhabha Centre forScience Education, initiated in 1990in collaboration with the Solapur Sci-ence Centre and the Solapur Muni-cipal Corporation for improvement ofscience and mathematics education,concluded this year.

The Basic Dental Research Unitcontinued its studies on prevention oforal cancer. Preliminary study onmouth self-examination showed thatthis technique can hefp in the earlydetection of oral cancer.

61

SINP used beams from VEC,Calcutta and Pelletron Accelerator ofNuclear Science Centre, New Delhiin the study o! nuclear reactions andnuclear structure.

6 4 Saha Institute of Nuclea.Physics

6.4.1 Nuclear Physics

SINP used beams from VEC, Cal-cutta and Pelletron Accelerator ofNuclear Science Centre, New Delhiin the study of nuclear reactions andnuclear structure. Some non-yraststates predicted from shell modelcalculations were identified andcompleted the band structure studyin Xenon-123,124. The fusion andpartial cross sections for Carbon-12 + Carbon-14 reaction wereobtained using tandem accelerator ofthe McMaster University.

Experimental activities related tothe studies of Antimony-117,119 nuc-lei, understanding the mechanism ofLithium-6 projectile break-up reac-tion, studies of the three nucleontransfer reaction Beryllium-9(alpha,proton)Boron-12 to investi-gate the high lying states of Boron-12and the effect of coulomb-nuclear in-terference in the scattering of Silicon-28 by Silicon-28; and investigation ofthe role of neutron-skin in nucleonand cluster-projectile induced reac-tions. Heavy ion induced fission wasstudied.

In-beam spectroscopic study ofodd-mass iodine nuclei in reactionsinduced by alpha-particles, under-standing the band structure in zinc-65 by in-beam gamma-ray, and life-time measurements using Doppler-shift techniques were other salient re-search efforts. AtSINP, nuclear spec-troscopic measurements were ex-tended to the region of rare earthnuclei.

M.N.SPHR BIRTH CENTENHRY GEL1392-1933

SflHfl INSTITUTE OF NUCLERR PHY!

Mean Nad Saha Birth Centenary Celebration at SINP, Calcutta

Studies also related to decay ofMercury-197, precision measurementof the intensity of KX-rays for ele-ments with Z=79-82, and determination of mixing ratios of the 177 and198 keV transitions Thulium-169 froma new time differential perturbedangular correlation experiment.

Theoretical studies on the occurr-ence of identical bands and satura-tion of B(E2) values and energy statesof even-even rare earth and actinidenuclei reproduced by a simple para-metrisation of the effective number ofvalence neutrons and protons in themajor shells were completed. Micros-copic calculations using crankedHFB and cranked shell model formal-isms for nuclei in the mass regionA = 120-130, and the phenomenolo-gical model calculations for the dou-bly odd Ag and La nuclei made prog-ress.

The fragmentation of exotic nucleiwas investigated, radiative capturerate of protons by Nitrogen-13 was

62

studied and the reaction Carbon-12(p,pi)Carbon-13 was treated relati-vistically. Weak interaction rates fornuclei with A60 and neutrino absorp-tion cross-sections for gallium-71were computed. The strength dis-tribution of isovector M1 excitation ofSi-28 was also studied.

In the field of High Energy andGeneral Physics, work done duringthe year included investigation of thebaryon spectrum in a chiral confiningmodel, studies relating to the transi-tion of the evolution process in deep-ly inelastic heavy-ion collisions fromnon-Markovian to Markovian nature,and calculation of the fission barriers.Also, model studies were made forbulk properties of nuclear matter.

Other major developments werethe discovery of unexpected magne-tic mass in a hadronic gas of pions,proof of the theorem in chiral per-turbation theory about the one-loopchiral logarithms, and the studies onmultilayer Hall systems, generalisa-

A computer programme wasdeveloped to investigate dosedistribution of radiation in cancerpatients.

tion of the Berrezin integration to thecase of semionic anyons, and discov-ery of the deconfinement in the ano-malously regularised Schwingermodel were other developments.Composite coloured bosons were in-vestigated and the top quark masswas predicted in a condensate modelwith effective four-fermion interac-tions.

A quantum integrable lattice modelwas developed, Faddeev- Reshe-tikhin-Takhtajan algebras andassociated Yang-Baxter equationswere studied, effects of deformedalgebras on the state space were in-vestigated, semiclassical studies re-lated to the geometric phase werecarried out. Invariant curves aroundperiodic orbits were studied in caseof 4D reversible maps. The eigen-modes of electromagnetic oscilla-tions in toroidal cavities with ellipticcross-section were calculated.

Different aspects of a biophysicalmodel for the calcium action poten-tial in squid giant synapse were in-vestigated and exocytotic vesicle re-lease during synaptic transmissionwas studied. A computer programmewas developed to investigatedose distribution of radiation in can-cer patients.

6.4.2 Plasma Physics

Experiments on tokamak plasmaand development of its diagnosticswere carried out in SINP. Experi-ments with soft X-ray imaging cameradeveloped in-house, revealed in-teresting features of sawtooth crashtimes and inversion radius. Soft X-rayimaging system was used to studythe plasma core temperature. Fibreoptic data link were designed and

work tnereon started. Experiments onthe properties of plasma from edge tocore region were performed and setsof magnetic probes were used tostudy the nature of last closedmagnetic surface. Experiments onthe loss of high energy ions from theplasma and important deductionswere made. The pulsed nature of thetokamak discharges and the mixingup of different informations in the out-put signals necessitated develop-ment of software programmes fordata analysis.

On the development side, opti-mization of the audio-frequency dis-charge cleaning system was done.Work on the construction and testingof the prototype slow bank system forplasma pulse extension was carriedout and design of the system forSINP-Tokamak was completed. Inaddition, developmental work wasalso carried out and a number of in-struments were developed.

Theoretical studies on one-dimensional modelling of SINP-Tokamak discharges, and time be-haviour of the plasma position werecarried out. Studies on the non-lineardynamics of coupled anharmonicoscillators were started to investigatethe origin of magnetic field-linechaos and the cause of island forma-tion in the magnetic surfaces of atokamak plasma.

6,4.3 Atomic, Molecular andCondensed Matter Physics

In condensed matter physics, stu-dies related to extended electronstates and the ground states of 1-Dextended, non-half- filled and the 2-DHubbard models. Quantum spin-chain models of 1-D magnetic sys-

63

terns were investigated by the ther-mofield transfer .matrix method.

Ground state superconductingphase diagram of narrow band sys-tems was studied and nature of polar-ons in small systems and in highcritical temperature materials wereinvestigated. Segregation and sur-face properties of transition and no-ble metal alloys were studied theore-tically and the results were comparedwith experimental results. On the ex-perimental side, spin-lattice relaxa-tion studies on some Cerium-basedintermetallic hydrides continued.

Mossbauer investigation of amineintercalated FePS3 revealed thecreation of two types of reducedsites. Studies were made on themagnetic behaviour of mixed systemCdxFd-xPSs (x=0.2,0.5). Measure-ments of ultrasonic velocity and atte-nuation coefficient in a single crystalof beta-brass continued. Investiga-tions were also made on interlayercoupling effect on superconductingtransition temperature in

Bismuth:2212 system. In microwavespectroscopy, several moleculeswere studied via their microwaverotational and vibrational spectrum.

Study conducted related to the cur-rent density effects on the yield ratiosof multiply charged ions. The surfacebinding energy of Yttrium, target cur-rent density effects in Aluminium-cluster ion emission, and topog-raphical modifications of silver sur-face, bombarded by energetic ions atoblique incidence, were studied.Study of blistering of metals by MeVproton beam continued. Angular de-pendence of bombardment inducedlight emission from metallic targetswas calculated. An experimental set-

During 1993, over 24,000 patientswere registered in the Tata MemorialHospital, 16,500 patients werediagnosed, about 11,500 patientswere admitted and over 24,000operations were carried out.

up was developed in the laboratoryfor studying Light Emission fromMetallic Surfaces due to Ion Bom-bardment. Also an Electrolytic JetThinning System was fabricated forinvestigation of gp-microstructures atsubsurface region.

6.4.4 Instrumentation

Instrumentation developed includea new phase-detector which is abreakthrough in the method of gener-ating harmonic signals of ultrahighfrequency-stability and spectra-purity, a very efficient method of har-monic generation in VHF and UHFrange of frequencies, efficient fre-quency multipliers.

6.4.5 Biophysics

Emphasis was placed on the studyof biomolecular interactions andstructure-function relationship ofDNA. Supercoil-induced structuraltransitions of DNA under the action ofvarying ligand concentrations weretheoretically investigated. The ex-perimental work was focussed on themode of action of anticancer drugs,such as mithramycin and chromomy-cin, as well as the molecular basis ofrecognition between T7 RNApolymerase and its promoter DNA.

The determination of crystal struc-tures of about ten compounds havingantitumoral, anti-inflammatory, anti-viral and enzyme inhibitory activities,and the structure of psophocarpin B1,a chymotrypsin inhibitor continued. Amacromolecular graphics modellingprogram, suited for protein crystal-lographic mode building, was in-stalled.

SINP conducted theoretical studyon several drug molecules. Studies

on cataractous human lenses re-vealed interesting behaviour of thecrystallins of cataractous lenses. Instudies with mammalian cells in cul-ture, various dihydrofolate reductasegene amplified clones were isolated.

6.4.6 Radiochemistry, Radiation andPhotochemistry and Spectros-copy

Nuclear activation analysis was ex-tended to titanium for the studies ofthe geochemistry of different rare ele-ments. Charged particle activationusing alpha-particles as projectileradioanalytical methodologies weredeveloped for effective separation ofthe elements forming the congenericpair.

The studies on the radiosensitiza-tion of cytosine base by copper (II)ions revealed that the metal ionscould act as good electron acceptorforwards the base transient radicals.Radiation chemistry of nickel com-plex of nitroimidazole indicated thatthe complex could be used forradiosensitization of canceroustumour cells in radiotherapy. Prepa-ration and utilization of colloidalsemiconductors, for the generation ofhydrogen from water, are under in-vestigation. Studies were also under-taken on excited state relaxation pro-cesses involving biologically impor-tant molecules. In membrane biolo-gy, effect of several membrane activeagents on the lipid structure of mem-branes was investigated. Also, elec-tron microscope studies of a vibriobacteriophage 'kappa' made prog-ress.

6.5 Tata Memorial Centre

The Tata Memorial Centre, com-prising the Tata Memorial Hospital(TMH) and the Cancer Research Insti-tute (CRI), continued its activities inthe diagnosis, treatment researchand training programmes.

6.5.1 During 1993, over 24,000 pa-tients were registered in the TataMemorial Hospital, 16,500 patientswere diagnosed, about 11,500 pa-tients were admitted and over 24,000operations were carried out. Over15,500 histopathological examina-tions and over 9,000 fine needleaspiration cytology and over 5,50,000other investigations were carried out.

A new tissue processor with a hood(Bavimed equipment) was installed.The equipment has the capacity toprocess 350 cassettes at a time forfaster turnover.

The Hospital remained involvedwith international and national clinic-al trials on cancer. The study on chil-dren suffering from haematologicalmalignancies continued. Bone Mar-row Transplantation facility is a regu-lar feature now. Protocol studies onvarious types of leukaemia also con-tinued.

Patients from all parts of India andalso from Middle East, East Africaand South-East Asia got expertmedical care and advice.

The Pharmacy Division continuedto manufacture I.V. fluids and TPN(Total Parenteral Nutrition).

The Hospital Cancer Registry ofTMH submitted 15,000 cancer pa-tient-data on the network of NationalCancer Registry Programme of IndianCouncil of Medical Research (ICMR).

64

TMH was recognised as one of thetraining centres for cancer educationand research by national andinternational organisations such asWHO, IAEA and others.

Computerisation of hospital in-formation system was continued. Thiswill aid hospital management, cancerrelated studies and training.

The project establishing infrastruc-ture for the Dr. B. Barua Cancer Insti-tute at Guwahati, Assam, in the year1988, was continued.

A new Radiotherapy Departmenthas been in operation since 1992 atthe Community Rural Cancer Centre,Barsi, Solapur District, Maharashtra.Rural Cancer Registry continued itswork and submitted cancer data tothe National Cancer Registry Prog-ramme.

6.5.2 Education & Training

TMH was recognised as one of thetraining centres for cancer educationand research by national and interna-tional organisations such as WHO,IAEA and others. It is a post- graduateteaching centre affiliated to the Uni-versity of Bombay. About 150 post-graduate students are registeredhere. During the year diplomacourses in Cancer Nursing and a 6-month course in diagnostic cytologyfor cytotechnologists were con-ducted. The Hospital conductseducation in Oncology for the medic-al faculty. The Department of Transfu-sion Medicine of TMH was recog-nised as a training centre for the Di-ploma Course in Transfusion Medi-cine.

The Government of Maharashtracontinued its association with theTata Memorial Hospital, in CancerControl Programme in the State. Doc-tors from district hospitals weretrailed in various branches.

Critical care unit of Tata Memorial Centre

Cancer patient being treated at Tata Memorial Centre

6.5.3 Preventive Oncology andCancer Education

Large number of patients attendedfor cancer check ups. To create can-cer awareness amongst the public,exhibition on cancer, and seminarswere organised and information wasdisseminated. TMC is gearing up forthe XVI UICC International CancerCongress scheduled to be held atNew Delhi in 1994.

6.5.4 Consultancy Assignment (NPCProject)

A consultancy service contract wasawarded to TMC by the Nuclear Pow-er Corporation to carry outepidemiological studies in respect ofradiation occupational workers andtheir families at atomic installationsites.

65

The Cancer Research Institute (CRI)initiated programmes in molecularepidemiology of cancer of lymphoidtissues.

The Institute is engaged in promotionof research in pure and appliedphysics and allied disciplines.

6 6 Cancer Research Institute

The Cancer Research Institute(CRI) initiated programmes inmolecular epidemiology of cancer oflymphoid tissues and successfullycultivated AIDS virus from Indian pa-tients. It also continued molecularcharacterisation of Indian HIV.

The study of tobacco-related can-cers continued to be the thrust areafor research at CRI. The Institute alsocontinued studies on various aspectsof human oral cancers.

Epithelial cell line developed from humanfoetal buccal mucosa

The technology for separation andidentification of bone marrow stemcells wa"s earlier developed at CRI.The Institute now plans to establish ahaemopoietic stem cell bank. Thestudies carried out at the Insitute re-vealed useful information aboutleukaemia blast cells which couldpossibly be utilised in purgingleukaemic cells from patients bonemarrow.

Fluorescent cell sorter installed at the Cancer Research Institute as a regional facility

The studies on growth factors con-stituted one of the areas of pursuit. Inthe year the coding region was sequ-enced. Development and character-isation of cell lines from oral cancerand normal fetal buccal mucosa, in-vestigation on the role of vitamins inpreventing oral cancers, studies onthe mechanisms of multidrug resist-

Epithelial cells of the cell line snowingcytokeratin network in the cytoplasm

66

ance, and immune status of patientswith chronic hepatitis B infection,molecular lesions in Non-Hodgkin'sLymphoma and anticarcinogenic stu-dies were other salient research acti-vities at CRI. The centre has alsodevised a simple reproduciblemethod for the production ofpodophyllotoxin, an anticancer drug.

Research also included studies onneurotrophic factor, human neurob-lastoma cell line and characterisationof the two proteins secreted bytumour cells.

The Institute is in the process ofbuilding up a facility for human genetherapy.

ICRC anti-leprosy vaccine, de-veloped at the Institute, was given to36,000 volunteers at Solapur, Laturand Osmanabad districts in Mahar-ashtra.

The institute continued with trainingand academic activities andarranged seminars and symposia.

6.7 Institute of PhysicsBhubaneswar

Founded in 1972 by the Govern-ment of Orissa, the Institute of Phy-sics (IOP), Bhubaneswar became anaided institute of the Department ofAtomic Energy on March 25, 1985.

The Institute is engaged in promo-tion of research in pure and appliedphysics and allied disciplines. Theresearch work carried out in the insti-tute has resulted in bringing out morethan 1500 research papers so far.

During 1993-94, IOP carried out re-search in several frontier areas ofphysics. The research activities at theInstitute are broadly grouped intotheoretical and experimental phy-sics. About 90 papers were pub-lished and more than forty presenta-tions were made.

The Ion Beam Facility of the Insti-tute was extensively used for diverseinvestigations. There was also in-crease in the theoretical investiga-tions.

Several experimental facilities, in-cluding an 18KW roating X-rayGenerator Standing Wave facility forsurface studies, were established.The High Temperature Superconduc-tivity Experimental Programme underthe National Superconductivity Prog-ramme progressed well and smalllaboratory for thin semiconductorfilms was set up.

Interaction with universities andcolleges, and collaborations withseveral institutes of international andnational repute were continued. IOP

Institute of Physics

has collaborations with leadinglaboratories and universities abroadand joined the WA98 High EnergyNuclear Collision experimental prog-ramme in CERN, Geneva, Switzer-land. Its collaborations with DESYSynchrotron facility, Germany underIndo-German collaboration program-me made good progress. The Insti-tute also re-established its Federa-tion status with International Centrefor Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy.

IOP continued its visiting scientistsprogramme and its faculty membersparticipated in national and interna-tional symposia/conferences. Winterschools on frontier areas of physicswere also organised.

Upgradation of the laboratory,computing and library facilities wascarried out.

6 8 Other Aided Institutes

The other aided institutes of theDepartment are the Institute of Mathe-matical Sciences, Madras and theMehta Research Institute ofMathematics & Mathematical Phy-sics, Allahabad.

The Institute of Mathematical Sci-ences carried out research in ohy-sics, mathematics and computer sci-ence. Apart from pursuing academicactivities, various seminars and col-loquia were also held in the Institute.

The Mehta Research Institute re-mained engaged in fundamental re-search in various fields of Mathema-tics and Theoretical Physics and con-tributed research papers for publica-tion

67

7SERVICES

7.1. Purchase & Stores

The Directorate of Purchase (DPS)and Stores handles this activity.

The Directorate continued to pro-vide support and service in materialsmanagement functions to all the Unitsof DAE. During the year 1993, 16,000purchase requisitions were proces-sed by DPS, and about 12,000 purch-ase orders were placed for a totalvalue of over about Rs.100 crores.

The Central Stores Unit at Trombaymet the user requirements of storesby servicing an inventory of 1,45,000items. A total of 3,70,000 items werereceived and issued. Also, centralprovisioning services were renderedto effect economy in purchase. Thestores attached to different units out-side Bombay extended materialsmanagement support to the servingunits.

100

PERCENTAGE

80

60

40

20

VALUE-WISE DISTRIBUTIONORDERS IN VALUE RANGES

5001-1.0 LAKH 1-3 LAKH

VALUE RANGE

H NUMBER OF ORDERS

ORDERS OF VALUE < 5000 EXCi UDED

> 3 LAKH

VALUE

The programme of computerisationof purchase functions continued andmanagement information system wasupgraded.

7.2 Construction and Services

The Construction & Services Group(C&SG) operates through its twowings namely the Civil EngineeringDivision (CED) which is responsiblefor construction, and the EngineeringServices Division (ESD) which main-tains buildings and connected ser-vices.

During the year, ESD maintainedover 7,600 flats and buildings of DAEand related services.

The details of major constructionworks handled by CED are shown intable on next page are as follows.

7 3 Estate Management and Ser-vices

The Directorate of Estate Manage-ment (DEM) is responsible for theallotment of residential flats to DAEemployees and its units in Bombay.During 1993, over 650 flats werealloted. DEM is also responsible forthe security of the housing colonies ofthe Department in Bombay, and en-sures proper functioning of servicesfor employees.

At Kalpakkam, the General SeriesOrganisation (GSO) manages DAEestate and services. During the year,it completed construction of over 90additional quarters.

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•

No.

1.

2

3.

4

5

678

9.

10.11.

12.

13.14.15.

Project

Trombay TownshipProject

TIFR, BombayResidencesTMC, Bombay(Hospital Complex,New Bombay)AMD-Tata Nagar,Bihar

GMRT, Pune

VECC, CalcuttaSINP, CalcuttaIOP, Bhubaneswar

College of CateringTechnology

AERB, BombayIRE, Bombay

DTE. of Rad.Protection, Complex

BRIT, New BombayNFAT & CC, PuneBBCI, Guwahati

" -vh^k^k^^y<',\''" ''. -'Flats: 696 (II-BAIII-C of VH Plan)

104 {11-B add. work of VII

SecurityComplex

—

Flats: 24 (Il-B, Jll-C)

—

Extn.of Cancer Centre

College

* ?l«9ri<4 in - ''' ' ',-frtflre$s; „ -

48(V-EofWPlao) ,Plan)

Flats. 12 (V-E)88 (H-B & Hl-C)

FlatsLab Building(nearing completion)Flats:14(H-B, III-C&IV-D)Coord and Liaison officeHostel BuildingHot Lab and WorkshopFlats • 24

LiuraryConstruction of AppliedTraining Centre for Inst.of Hotel Management andCatering TechnologyAERB Complex

Workshop BuildingLab.Building

NuwWofk

Undertakena) 120 (IV-O)b) 128 (EA)School at Mandate352 (H-B of VIII Plan)

40 (EA) Tendering Stage

Plannmg &Designingin progress128 Flats

IRE Office Complex(Planning Work)Engineering detailscompleted Tender Actionin Progress.

HospitalPlanningtaken up

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8OTHER ACTIVITIES

DAE which has achieved a compre-hensive development in nuclear tech-nology for many years now, is now in aposition to offer technology and equip-ment to other countries on commercialbasis.

8 1 International Relations andCollaborations

India continued to offer training fel-lowships, scientific visits etc. andmake available the services of its sci-entists for expert assignments boththrough IAEA and to the countrieswith which we have bilateral agree-ments for cooperation in the field ofpeaceful uses of atomic energy.

About 280 experts participated ininternational symposia, workshopsand conferences held under the au-spices of various UN and other inter-national organisations as also theIAEA. Over 30 foreign scientists weretrained in India under IAEA fel-lowships programme and bilateralagreements signed between Govern-ment of India and other countriesIndia also hosted seven IAEA meet-ings, symposia and ten other interna-tional meetings during 1993-94.

The Chairman, Atomic EnergyCommission (AEC) led the Indian de-legation to the 37th Regular Sessionof the IAEA General Conference heldin Vienna, Austria in September 1993.Bilateral discussions were held witha number of other delegations partici-pating in the Conference. India con-tinued to be the member of the Boardof Governors of IAEA.

8.1.1 Collaborations

DAE which has achieved a com-prehensive development in nucleartechnology for many years now, isnow in a position to offer technologyand equipment to other countries oncommercial basis. A beginning hasalready been made to supply equip-

ment to some of the developing coun-tries.

DAE has been sharing with othercountries the indigenous expertisedeveloped over the last four de-cades, in the field of peaceful uses ofatomic energy. The expertise avail-able in BARC in a number of fieldsand specialised areas was sought byinternational agencies such as IAEA.

A number of units of the Depart-ment such as the Bhabha Atomic Re-search Centre, Centre for AdvancedTechnology, Variable Energy Cyclot-ron Centre and Tata Institute of Fun-damental Research, continued theirinteraction with international re-search organisations notably theEuropean Centre for Nuclear Re-search. VECC continued its col-laborative research in high energyphysics under the auspices of CERNLab by fabricating and supplying thephoton multiplicity detector. TIFR'sinvolvement related to LEP- 200 ex-periment at CERN. The Institute ofPhysics had collaborations with lead-ing laboratories and universitiesabroad and joined the WA98 HighEnergy Nuclear Collision ex-perimental programme in CERN. Itscollaborations with DESY, Germanyand synchrotron facility under theIndo-German collaboration program-me, made good progress. The Insti-tute also re-established its federationstatus with International Centre forTheoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy.

During the year, the services of 14BARC scientists were also placed atthe disposal of the International Ato-mic Energy Agency for expert assign-ments in various countries.

8 2 Human ResourcesDevelopment

Human resource developmentprogramme of the Department com-prises training, seminars, sysmposia,and workshops.

To meet the ever evolving tech-nological and managerial needs ofthe Department, DAE organisationssuch as BARC, NPCIL and othersconduct advanced training program-mes in nuclear science and en-gineering, and related areas. A num-ber of courses are also conducted inthe fields of management, financeand others.

During the year, the TrainingSchool of BARC and the NuclearTraining Centre at Kota continuedtheir training programmes. The 37thcourse of BARC Training School wascompleted and the second orienta-tion course for post graduate en-gineers commenced.

Training courses were conductedby BARC in the areas of radiationmedicine and radiation physics,radioimmunoassay, industrialradiography and safety. To meet themanagerial needs DAE Secretariatalso conducted short term refreshercourses for different categories ofofficials.

BARC has been recognised as acentre for postgraduate studies in va-rious disciplines by 30 Indian Univer-sities. So far, the status of universityteachers has been accorded to over160 scientists of BARC. Under thecollaborative schemes betweenBARC and the University of Bombay,50 scientists earned doctorate and

70

post-graduate degrees. Scientistswere also granted leave for proceed-ing abroad for post-doctoral researchwork.

Other activities included setting upof vocational training Centre by UCILfor workers education.

Public Awareness

To promote awareness amongstpublic about the friendly atom, theDepartment continued informationdissemination. Exhibitions wereorganised for students and public atlarge, video films were produced andscreened, and essays and quiz con-tests were organised for students. Anumber of publications for public in-formation on various aspects of nuc-lear energy were brought out by DAEand its organisations.

Poster Session of the IAEA Sympo-sium on advanced nuclear powersystem at Seoul, South Korea, Inter-national Food Convention Exhibitionat Mysore, Kisan Mela in Pune, Ex-hibition on Nuclear Medicine in De-lhi, and Indian Science Congress Ex-hibition at Jaipur were the salient par-ticipations. Public response to the ex-hibitions was also encouraging.

o •"» Management Services

I ne Management Services Group(MSG) of the Department of AtomicEnergy provides support to the tomanagement at the department'sSecretariat in areas of informationmanagement, analysis and reporting.It maintains a database of perform-ance of various operating units andprojects under construction within thedepartment. The Group generates

A view of permanent exhibition in DAE premises Bombay

periodic reports to the Prime Minister,the Atomic Energy Commission(AEC) and Chairman, AEC. It pre-pares the Annual Action Plan of thedepartment, reviews the performanceof PSUs under the department andserves as the nodal point for interac-tion with the Department of Program-me Implementation. The Group alsoprovides computer services to theSecretariat. It has installed a PCbased Computer Network in the Sec-retariat and is in the process of im-plementing a system of Compute-rised Administrative system.

H '. Use of Hindi

The work of the Department ismainly scientific and technical in na-ture. To promote use of Hindi in tech-nical matters, the Department and itsUnits/PSUs organised conferences,seminars and talks in Hindi on va-rious scientific issues.

A series of scientific seminars/talkswere organised in Hindi by variousunits of DAE. Some of the topics co-vered were as follows:

1. Technical Achievements of AtomicEnergy Programme.

2. High Speed Computer - an Integralpart of Modern Science.

3. Nuclear Energy and Automation.4. Safety Provisions in the design of

220MW Atomic Power Stations andtheir utility.

5. Ultra High Vacuum Science, Tech-nology and Applications

6. Telecom: Unlimited Possibilities.7. Differenct Dimensions of Atomic

Energy Programme.

Progress was made in implementa-tion of the Official Language Policy ofthe Union in other areas also in theDepartment and its Units and PublicSector Undertakings. In-service train-ing in Hindi language, Hindi typewrit-

71

ing and stenography was imparted to422 officials, 63 typists and 44 ste-nographers respectively. 510 offi-cials, 66 typists and 51 stenog-raphers are undergoing training inHindi language, Hindi typing andsteongraphy respectively. EighteenDevanagari typewriters were purch-ased during the year raising the totalnumber of such typewriters to 243. Inaddition 7 bilingual electronic type-writers were also purchased raisingthe total number of such typewritersto 91. The Department purchased 25bilingual softwares for PCs raisingtheir number to 54. The number ofBilingual Telex Machines were alsoraised to 8. All gazette notifications,cabinet notes, reports and otherdocuments sumbitted in bilingualform to various Committees of Parlia-ment etc.

The OLICs of BARC.CAT and someof the industrial units and PSUs ofDAE brought out their house maga-zines.

Grants were given to various OLICsof the Department and its units. HindiWeek/Fortnights were organised. AHindi Month was also celebrated bythe Bombay located Units of DAE.

Under the Incentive Scheme forwriting original notes and drafts inHindi, 58 employees were awarded.

Hindi workshop for training em-ployees in writing notes and drafts inHindi was organised at DAE and anumber of its units.

8 6 Industrial Relations

During the year the industrial rela-tions remained satisfactory.

8 7 Security and PhysicalProtection

Security of DAE installations isgiven prime importance and is moni-tored by high level committees indifferent tiers. Based on review madeduring the year, security of the in-stallations was upgraded. Varioussystems involving high technologywere installed depending upon thevital nature of the individual installa-tion. The indigenous content in secur-ity systems and instrumentation wasalso progressively increased.

8 8 Welfare Measures

8.8.1 Education

The Atomic Energy EducationalSociety, an aided organisation ofDAE, has been providing educationfor employees of the Department. TheSociety has today 27 schools at 13centres with about 27,000 studentson their rolls.

The AEES schools have earnedname in imparting quality education.During the year of report, the Societymaintained an all round growth inacademics and allied areas. ClassesX and XII results scores crossed passpercentages of 92%. In 1993 ex-aminations, students got distinctions,won merit awards and a number ofstudents got admission in profession-al colleges. A student of Atomic Ener-gy Junior College, Bombay secured asilver medal at the InternationalMaths Olympic.

The emphasis given by the AEESon the over all development of chil-dren has resulted in two children win-ning national music scholarship

award of the Government of India. InBombay schools value based educa-tion was introduced.

8.8.2 Medical Services

The central health service schemecovered about 74,000 beneficiaries.Under the scheme over 5 lakh pa-tients were treated and family welfareprogramme was continued. The con-struction of BARC hospital annexealso commenced.

8.8.3 Social Welfare

During the year, social welfareprogrammes for the benefit of the loc-al people of the villages around theplant sites, were continued by theDAE organisations. IRE contributedRs.6.54 lakhs by way of donations tovarious educational, social and char-itable courses. UCIL supplied pot-able water in the adjoining area of theworks and installed hand pumps.Also, UCIL and ECIL have been giv-ing suppport to ancillary and smallscale units situated in the their ad-joining areas thereby contributing togeneration of employment.

72

ATOMIC EXERGY ORGANISATION

1 Research and Development

I i Bhabha Atomic Research Centre

Set up in 1957 as the Atomic Energy Establishment, at Trombay. BARC is the premier national centre formultidisciplinary R&D work in nuclear energy. The facilities at Trombay include research reactors DHURVA(100MWt), CIRUS (40MWt), and APSARA (1MWt) which are providing valuable experience reactor technology andproducing radioisotopes for use in agriculture, medicine, industry and research. A 5.5 MeV Van-de-Graaffaccelerator is available for experimental research in physics. In addition to the various laboratories for carrying outresearch in physics, chemistry, biology, agriculture, medicine, food technology, nuclear engineering, isotopetechnology, metallurgy, etc., the Centre operates Uranium Metal Plant, Uranium Fuel Fabrication Plant, FuelReprocessing Plant and Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Plant. It has set up a Beryllium Plant at Vashi. FuelReprocessing Plant (PREFRE) and a Nuclear Waste Immobilization Plant at Tarapur are also parts of BARC. TheRadiation Medicine Centre of BARC at Bombay is regional reference centre of the World Health Organisation. TheCentre has setup and operates a 14MV pelletron accelerator at Bombay in collaboration with TIFR.

The Seismic Station at Gauribidanur, near Bangalore, helps in the detection and identification of undergroundnuclear explosions. The Nuclear Research Laboratory at Srinagar and the High Altitude Research Laboratory atGulmarg conduct research in atmospheric and cosmic ray physics.

' 2 Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research

Set up in 1971 at Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu, the Centre is engaged in research and development related to fastbreeder reactor (FBR) technology. Here the major facility is the Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR) which attainedcriticality on 18th October, 1985. The Centre is engaged in developing a 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor(PFBR).

1 3 Centre for Advanced Technology

The Centre at Indore, Madhya Pradesh spearheads the national effort in research and development in hightechnology fields such as accelerators, lasers, cryogenics and other areas of advance research. CAT is setting upSynchrotron Radiation Sources (SRS) which will be a unique facility in the country.

1 A Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre (VECC)

The Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre (VECC) at Calcutta conducts advanced research in nuclear physics,nuclear chemistry, production of isotopes for various applications and radiation damage studies on reactormaterials. Variable Energy Cyclotron is a major facility at this Centre.

' \) Atomic Minerals Division

The Division is entrusted with research and development activities pertaining to radiometric and geologicalsurveys, exploration, prospecting and development of various mineral resources needed for the nuclear powerprogramme.

2. Industrial Organisations

2 1 Nuciear Fuel Complex

Located at Hyderabad, NFC produces fuel for the nuclear power reactors of the country. The complex consists ofvarious plants for conversion of yellow cake into ceramic grade natural uranium oxide, imported enriched uraniumhexafluoride into enriched uranium oxide, zircon sand to zircaloy components and uranium dioxide to sinteredpellets and finally to fuel assemblies. Production of components such as blanket fuel containing thoria pellets,nickel and steel reflector assemblies etc. for FBTR, forms part of the fuel fabrication programme. NFC alsomanufactures materials of ultrahigh purity for the electronic industry and produces seemless stainless steel tubes.

2 2 Heavy Water Projects

There are eight operating heavy water plants run by the Heavy Water Board. These are as follows:

Heavy Water Plant, Nangal: Based on the electrolysis of water and low temperature hydrogen distillation, theplant has been producing heavy water since 1962.

Heavy Water Plant, Baroda: Based on the monothermal ammonia- hydrogen exchange process, the plant islinked to the synthesis gas stream of the fertilizer plant of Gujarat State Fertilizer Corporation.

Heavy Water Plant, Kota: Based on indigenous hydrogen sulphide - water process developed by BARC, theplant has design production capacity of 100 tonnes per year.

73

Heavy Water Plant, Tuticorin: Linked to the fertilizer plant of the Southern Pe'rochemical Industries Corporation,the plant is similar to the Baroda plant. Its design production capacity is 70 tonnes per year.

Heavy Water Plant, Talcher: The plant which is based on bithermal ammonia hydrogen exchange will use thesynthesis gas stream of ammonia plant of the Fertilizer Corporation of India. It is designed to produce 60 tonnes ofheavy water per year.

Heavy Water Plani, Thai: Based on monothermal ammonia-hydrogen exchange process, the plant at Thai,Maharashtra has annual production capacity of 110 tonnes.

Heavy Water Plant, Manuguru: Based on the bithermal hydrogen sulphide-water exchange process, the plant hasannual production capacity of 185 tonnes.

Heavy Water Plant, Hazira: This 110 tonnes per annum heavy water plant is based on monothermal ammoniahydrogen exchange process. The plant is integrated with the ammonia plant of KRIBHCO.

. •: Board of Radiation and Isotope Technology

The Board of Radiation and Isotope Technology (BRIT) supplies on commericial scale radio isotopes,radiopharmaceuticals, radiation sources, labelled biomolecules and equipment for industrial radiography. BRIToperates a radiation sterilization plant Isomed at Trombay, and radiopharmaceutical laboratories at New Bombayand bimolecules production facilities Jonaki at Hyderabad in addition to the regional centres forradiopharmaceuticals at Bangalore, Dibrugarh and Delhi.

'i Public Sector Undertakings

' Nuclear Power Corporation

The Corporation is responsible for the design, construction, commissioning and operation of nuclear powerplants. It is presently operating the atomic power stations at Tarapur, Rawatbhata, Kalpakkam, Narora, andKakrapar (Unit-1) and constructing Kakrapar (Unit-2), RAPP-Unit 3&4, and K.^ga atomic power projects.

3.1.1 Tarapur Atomic Power Station

100 kilometres north of Bombay, TAPS is the first atomic power station in India. It has two boiling water typereactors each of 160 MWe capacity, fuelled by enriched uranium. The Station supplies electricity to Maharashtraand Gujarat.

3.1.2 Rajasthan Atomic Power Station

Located at Rawatbhata, Rajasthan, the station has two natural uranium fuelled pressurised heavy water reactorseach of 220 MWe gross capacity. Two additional units (RAPP-3&4) of 220 MWe each, are under construction.

3.1.3 Madras Atomic Power Station

Located at Kalpakkam about 80 kilometers south of Madras, MAPS has two natural uranium fuelled pressurisedheavy water reactor units each of 220 MWe capacity. MAPS is the first totally indigenous Atomic Po> -5r Station.

3.1.4 Narora Atomic Power Station

The siation consists of two pressurised heavy water reactor units each of 220 MWe gross capacity, feedingelectricity to the northern grid. NAPS is the standard design of the Indian PHWR.

3.1.5 Kakrapar Atomic Power Station

Located at Kakrapar, Gujarat, the Unit-1 of the station has been in commercial operation since 6th May,1993.The Unit-2 has reached an advanced stage of construction and commissioning. The two pressurised heavy waterreactors are each of 220 MWe capacity.

3 1.6 Kaiga Atomic Power Project

Located at Kaiga in Karnataka, the station will have two units of 220 MWe each.

i JMPi ; - i i Corpo i : ; i ;on oi incii,' ;. tc!

Formed in October 1967, UCIL is responsible for mining and milling of uranium ore. It is operating uraniummines at Jaduguda and Bhatin and 1000 tonnes per day uranium mill at Jaduguda. The Corporation has set upuranium recovery plants at Surda, Rakha and Mosaboni. A by-product recovery plant of UCIL recovers mineralssuch as copper, magnetite and molybdenum.

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; : Indian Rare Earths Liu.

Functioning since 1950, IRE is a Government company. The Company has two mineral sands separation plantsat Manavalakurichi and Chavara and a Rare Earths Plant at Alwaye. IRE has set up a project at Chhatrapur, Orissaknown as Orissa Sands Complex (OSCOM), for production ot various minerals and value added products. TheCompany also manages Thorium Plant at Trombay.

•> 4 Eiectronics Corporation of India Ltd.

The company was set up at Hyderabad in 1967 to manufacture electronic systems, instruments and componentsdeveloped at BARC. The Corporation has pioneered the production of a varied range of sophisticated electronicsystems, instruments and components, based primarily on indigenous technology. The Company is a leadingproducer in computers, control instrumentation and other sophisticated electronic systems.

•'• A ided ins t i tu t ions

: The Tata institute of Fundamental Research.

Founded in 1945, TIFR is a centre for pursuit of fundamental research in mathematics, theoretical physics,cosmic rays and nuclear physics. The research activities of the Institute have now expanded to areas such asastronomy and astrophysics, chemical physics, molecular biology, solid state physics, solid state electronics andcomputer science. Other facilities of the Institute are: the Balloon Facility at Hyderabad, the Radio AstronomyCentre at Ootacamund, the National Image Processing Facility for Astronomy at Ootacamund and 500 MHz FTNMR National Facility at "HFR, Bombay. The Institute in addition manages activities of the Homi Bhabha Centre forScience Education (HBCSt) and the Basic Dental Research Project. TIFR is one of the institutions aided by DAE.

fata Memorial Centre

Located at Bombay, Tata Memorial Centre comprises the Tata Memorial Hospital and the Cancer ResearchInstitute. The Centre is the foremost in the country in education, comprehensive care of cancer patients and incancer research. The hospital is a full fledged post-graduate centre affiliated to the Bombay University.

Sana institute of Nuclear Physics

SINP at Calcutta was formally opened in January 1950. The Institute provides facilities in advanced research inthe fields of experimental and theoretical nuclear physics, solid state atomic and molecular physics, plasmaphysics, high energy physics, crystallography, molecular biology, biophysics, nuclear chemistry andinstrumentation.

institute of Physics Bhubaneswar

Incepted in 1974, the Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar became the fully aided institute of DAE. The Instituteprovides facilities in advanced research in the fields of theoretical solid state, nuclear and high energy physicsand in the field of experimental solid state physics. It has a 3 MV tandem pelletron accelerator for experimentalresearch in atomic, nuclear, solid state and applied physics.

4.5 The other aided Institutes of DAE are the Mehta Institute of Mathematics and Mathematical Physics,Allahabad, National Board for Higher Mathematics, Bombay, Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Madras andAtomic Energy Education Society, Bombay.

• Atomic Energy Regulatory Board

AERB carries out certain regulatory and safety functions envisaged under Sections 16,17 and 23 of the AtomicEnergy Act 1962. The Board has a full-time Chairman, a full-time Member- Secretary and three other part timemembers. The Board is responsible to the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board has the powers to lay down safetystandards and frame rules and regulations in regard to the regulatory and safety requirements.

List of the functions of the above organisations is given in the Section 1.

Edited and Published by R K Bhatnagar. Head, Publications Divn . Depl ol Atomic Energy. Govt. ot India, Bombay-39 Printing executed at Delta Printing. Bombay 13

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