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f >' ••. .'I ANNUAL REPORT 1993-94

original contains

GOVERNMENT OF DIvPAKTMKXT OI ATOMIC KXliKGY COVER

The pictures on the front cover represent some of the programmes of the Department namely robotics and automation, lasers, mineral exploration, cosmic research, fuel fabrication, heavy water production, radioisotope production for nuclear medicine, agriculture, industry and research, and generation. Back side of the cover shows research reactors Dhruva and Cirus which have been producing radioisotopes for use in agriculture, medicine, industry and research. CONTENTS

Kakrapar Atomic Power Station • The Department 1 • Power Sector 2 • Programme Profile 3 • Highlights 3 • Power Generation 7 • Power Projects 10 • New Starts 13 • Heavy Water 13 • Atomic Minerals 17 • Nuclear Fuels 20 • Advanced Fuels 22 • Fuel Reprocessing 24

Radioisotope imaging using gamma camera at Radiation Medicine Centre, Bombay • Waste Management 24 • Safety & Environment 26 Protection • Advanced Reactors 29 • Research Reactors 32 • Radioisotope Production 33 • Radioisotopes in Industry 35 • Radiation Medicine 35 • Nuclear Agriculture 40 • High Technology 43 • Accelerator Programme 45 • Laser Programme 47

Multibeam Carbon dioxide laser developed by CAT, Indore • Research in Basic 51 Sciences » Technology Transfer • Corp. of India Ltd. • Ltd. • Electronics Corp. of India Ltd. • Financial Support • Aided Institutes • Services • Other Activities 1 The activities of the DAE organisations broadly fall under the three sectors namely the generation INTRODUCTION of electricity, research and development, and industrial & minerals sector.

1 1 The Department The Department has in its folds five company of the Department - which is The Department of Atomic Energy research centres, six aided research responsible for designing, building (DAE) is responsible for execution of institutes, three industrial units, four and operation of nuclear power the policies of the Atomic Energy public sector companies, and ser- plants. This is supported by the Nuc- Commission that aim at using atomic vice organisations. lear Fuel Complex (NFC) which fabri- energy for electricity generation, and cates nuclear fuels and related com- The activities of the DAE organisa- non-electricity applications such as ponents, and the tions broadly fall under the three sec- medicine, agriculture and food tech- (HWB) which produces heavy water tors namely the generation of elec- nology, industry and research. DAE is for the Indian pressurised heavy wa- tricity, research and development, the apex organisation'Of the country ter reactors (PHWRs). and industrial & minerals sector. in international matters connected The research and development with atomic energy. Its activities also support to the power sector, such as 1.1.1 Power Sector encompass financial support to re- reactor engineering, development of search in nuclear science and build- Spearheading the power sector, is materials and fuels, fuel reproces- ing up trained manpower for develop- the Nuclear Power Corporation of In- sing, waste management and others, ment of atomic energy programme. dia Ltd. (NPCIL) - a public sector comes from BARC. The Atomic

ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION

DEPARTMENT OF ATOMIC ENERGY

R & D SECTOR (SERVICES & $UPPORt| SECTOR Bhabha Atomic • Directorate of Research Centre lUd. Purchase & Stores Complex Centre Electronic Corp. of • Construction & for Atomic Research India Ltd. Board of Radiation & Isotope Technology Services Group Centre for Advanced Indian Rare Earths Ltd. Technology Uranium Corporation • Directorate of Estate Management Variable Energy of India Limited Cyclotron Centre • General Services Atomic Minerals Division Organisation

• Tata Institute of • Mehta Research Q 2 Fundamental Institute of Maths & oHI Q£L Research Maths Physics <5 • Tata Memorial Centre • Institute of • Saha Institute of Mathematical Sciences \\ Nuclear Physics • Atomic Energy • Institute of Physics Education Society ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE Atomic Energy

Gulmarg Establishments in India (3) Nangal *

(4) •k Narora

(32)*

(5)

Turamdih *r (6) (7) \ '(30) (31) r •k Indore Jaduguda Bhatin * -fc Calcutta >* Baroda y — \ JL.(2 Narwapahar "

•^ (27)*Talcher A (iO)*Tarapur Bombay fW (12)5*: Thai

Industrial Sector Board of Radiation & Isotope Technology (11) •ISOMED Plant (11) • Radio Pharmaceutical (15) Laboratories (11,15,32) ir Bangalo • Jonaki Laboratory (23) (16) • Mysore Heavy Water Board (11) (22)*/Kalpakkam • Heavy Water Plants (3,5,7,9.12,21,24,27) uvveiopnwni Nuclear Fuel Complex (23) Atomic Minerals QMision «S) Aided Institutes Bhabha Atomte Research Cen&s (») Institute of Physics (26) •Hiah Attitude Reeserch Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics (31) i Chavaraf Laboratory / Tata Institute of Fundamental • Nuclear Research Laboratory (D Research (11) ManavalakuruchjJJT (20) • Power Reactor Fuel (11) Reprocessing Rant (10) •Rare Minerals Plant Support & Services Public Sector Undertakings' Units • Radiation Medicine Centre (11) Construction & Services Group (11) •Seismic Station Directorate of Purchase & Stores (11) Indian Rate Earths Ltd. (11) •Warts Immobilisation (10) Directorate of Estate Management (11) • Rare Earths Plant (17) Centre for Advance Technology (6) • Minerals Separation Plant (18, 19) Indira Qandhi Centre tor Atomic •Orissa Sands Complex (OSCOM) (25) (22) Electronics Corporation of India Ltd. (23) Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre (31) Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (11) • Nuclear Power Plants & Projects (4, 5.8,10,13,20,22) Uranium Corporation of India Ltd. (20,20, 30) The research centres of DAE are The Department has successfully engaged in the multidisciplinary achieved technical capability in the research in hightech areas. design, construction and operation of PHWR reactors.

Minerals Division (AMD) explores for 1.1.3 Industrial Sector ences, Allahabad and National Board atomic minerals. of Higher Mathematics Bombay are The industrial organisations of DAE also supported by DAE. are the Heavy Water Board (HWB), 1.1.2 Research & Development Bombay, Nuclear Fuel Complex Sector 1.1.5 Public Sector Undertakings (NFC), , and the Board of The organisations that meet the Radiation and Isotope Technology Besides NPCIL, the public sector multidisciplinary research needs of (BRIT), Bombay. Heavy water is the companies under the aegis of the the atomic energy programme are the main-stay of the Indian PHWRs which DAE are the Uranium Corporation of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre use it as moderator and coolant. The India Ltd. (UCIL), the Indian Rare (BARC) at Trombay (Maharashtra), Heavy Water Board is responsible for Earths Ltd. (IREL) and the Electronics the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic planning and production of heavy Corporation of India Ltd. (ECIL). UCIL Research (IGCAR) at Kalpakkam water for meeting the requirements of is engaged on mining and proces- (Tamilnadu).the Centre for Advanced nuclear power stations and reactors sing of uranium, while IREL mines Technology (CAT) at Indore (Madhya in India. NFC meets the fuel needs of and processes mineral sands con- Pradesh) and the Variable Energy the Indian reactors and also pro- taining thorium and rare earth miner- Cyclotron Centre (VECC) at Calcutta duces zirconia components, blanket als. ECIL meets the control and in- (West Bengal). fuel containing thoria pellets, and strumentation requirements of DAE nickel and steel reflector assemblies The research at BARC envelopes organisations in addition to catering for Fast Breeder Reactors (FBR) and to the needs of other organisations. all the aspects of nuclear science special materials. BRIT operates pro- and technology related to reactors, duction facilities such as Isopharm at 1.1.6 Services accelerator, nuclear materials and New Bombay and Jonaki at Hyder- fuels, fuel reprocessing, waste man- abad including the regional centres The Directorates for Purchase and agement; hitech areas such as las- for radiopharmaceuticals at Banga- Stores, Estate Management, Con- ers, robotics, automation, supercon- lore and Delhi, Radioimmunoassay struction & Services Group all at ductivity, instrumentation, production (RIA) Centre at Dibrugarh and the Bombay, and General Service Orga- of radioisotopes and their applica- Isomed plant at Trombay. nisation, Kalpakkam manage purch- tions in medicine, agriculture and ase and stores, estate, construction other areas. and maintenance of buildings, and 1.1.4 Support to Research IGCAR is engaged in the develop- supporting services at Kalpakkam. ment of sodium cooled fast reactor The fully funded research institu- technology including all the aspects tions of DAE engaged in basic re-^ 1.2 Programme Profile of its fuel cycle and associated safety search in nuclear and allied sciences DAE's three-stage nuclear power aspects. are the Tata Institute of Fundamental programme envisages use of natural Research (TIFR) and Tata Memorial The thrust areas of research at CAT uranium fuel based pressurised Centre (TMC) at Bombay, Saha Insti- heavy water reactors (PHWRs) in the are the lasers, accelerators, high tute of Nuclear Physics at Calcutta, vacuum technology, cryogenics and first stage and plutonium and ura- and the Institute of Physics at nium-233 fuels based power reactors technology for manufacture of large Bubaneshwar. The Department also magnets. in the second and third stages re- gives project linked financial assist- spectively. The Variable Energy Cyclotron ance to research and development Centre (VECC) is a national facility. It work in various disciplines in univer- The Department has successfully delivers beams of proton, deutron, sities and academic institutions. The achieved technical capability in the alpha particle for research in nuclear Institute of Mathematical Sciences, design, construction and operation of physics and also produces isotopes Madras, Mehta Research Institute of PHWR reactors of the first stage of the such as gallium-67. Mathematics and Mathematical Sci- Nuclear Power Programme. Selfre- Selfreliance has been achieved in all the segments of nuclear fuel cycle covering exploration, mining, fuel Nuclear Power Stations fabrication, designing, building and operation of nuclear power reactors, • In operation reprocessing, and waste • Under Construction management. • New Starts

liance has been achieved in all the segments 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 water reactors at Tarapur, seven PHW reac- tors have been in operation at Rawat- bhata (Rajasthan), Kalpakkam (Tamilnadu), Narora (Uttar Pradesh) and Kakrapar (Gujarat). The country has a total of 1720MWe installed nuc- 5?' lear power capacity. To this another 220MWe will be added shortly with Kudamkulam the commissioning of the second reactor at Kakrapar. Four more reac- tors of 220 MWe each are being built a fuel core has been used in a fast at Rawatbhata and Kaiga (Karnata- equipment for use in diagnosis and breeder for the first time in the world. ka). The design of 220MWe PHWR treatment of diseases, industry and A prototype fast breeder reactor has been standardised and PHWR of research. The radiopharmaceuticals (PFBR) of 500 MWe is also being 500MWe capacity is being de- supplied by BRIT are used in about developed. veloped. 6.5 lakh investigations. Medical in- dustry is a major beneficiary of BRIT's The Department has also taken radiation sterilization service. Eight heavy water plants are oper- stride towards the third stage of its ational at Nangal, Baroda, Tuticorin, nuclear power programme. Uranium- Radiodiagnosis and radiotherapy of Kota, Talcher, Thai, Hazira and 233 based fuel has successfully been cancer are offered by the TMC. . Plants at Kota and Manu- developed and work has commenced In the field of agriculture, BARC guru are based on the technology on the design of Advanced Heavy has developed improved varieties of developed at BARC. With the exper- Water Reactor (AHWR) which will pulses, rice, groundnut, and others. It tise developed in this field, DAE is make use of thorium in power genera- has established irradiation technolo- now confidently seeking export ave- tion. gy for preservation of food. Irradiation nues. of sea food, spices and onions has Atomic energy has been used in been approved by the Government The complete expertise for fuel fab- non-electricity applications in the rication and related components is fields of medicine, agriculture, indus- for export purposes. available under one roof at NFC. De- try and research. BARC has made The research centres of DAE are velopment of new fuels is a thrust substantial contribution to the de- engaged in the multidisciplinary re- area of the Indian Atomic Energy velopment and promotion of radioiso- search in hightech areas. The ap- Programme. tope and radiation applications. It is plied research programmes cover With the successful operation of a major producer of radioisotopes laser, accelerators, materials, Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR) at and allied products which find ap- cryogenics, computers, tissue cul- Kalpakkam, the second stage of the plications in industry, medicine, agri- ture, robotics, superconductivity and nuclear power programme has com- culture and research. The Board of others. The basic research is done in menced. FBTR fuel is made of mixed Radiation and Isotope Technology fields such as mathematics, nuclear uranium-plutonium carbide de- (BRIT) processes and supplies and allied sciences, materials, veloped indigenously at BARC. Such radioisotope based products and astrophysics etc. Kakrapar Atomic Power Station Heavy Water Plant at Hazira 2 HIGHLIGHTS

Following are the highlight of acti- vities of the Department during the year 1993-94: The NPCIL posted a profit of about Rs. 90 crores for the year 1992-93. The cumulative power generation from all the operating stations till De- Occupational safety of workers cember 1993 was over 87,200 million Indigenously fabricated machine for production of zircaloy tubes units (MUs). During 1993-94, Unit-1 of Kakrapar Atomic Power Station on oxide, carbide and nitride fuels for topes. Dhruva and Cirus at Trombay (KAPS) was declared commercial on meeting the future needs of the nuc- produced almost full range of May 5, 1993. The total power genera- lear power programme, yielded a radioisotopes, meeting the domestic tion is estimated to reach 5,500 MUs. novel production route of MOX needs. Unfortunately, a fire incident took (mixed oxide) fuel assemblies. With For the first time, a gaseous place at the Unit-1 of Narora Atomic this achievement, India has entered a radioactive tracer was successfully Power Station (NAPS) which affected select band of advanced countries used by BARC scientists to detect operation of both the reactor units of which possess this capability. BARC leaks in ethylene gas pipeline be- NAPS and hence the total perform- has also developed an energy saving tween Nagothane and Ghansoli in process for production of free flowing ance. During the fire incident, the Maharashtra. reactor safety system performed as uranium oxide powder for pelletisa- The gamma scanning technique per design intent. tion. For the second core of FBTR, the Centre has manufactured sintered developed in BARC for on-line non- During the year, almost all the mixed uranium-plutonium carbide destructive diagnosis of malfunction- heavy water plants performed satis- fuel pellets. The development of de- ing of distillation and extraction col- factorily, and three more upgrading sign of 500MWe PHWR and thorium umns in oil refineries was successful- plants were completed at Thai and based AHWR remained the main ly applied in the Indian Oil Corpora- Kakrapar. thrust of the research and develop- tion's Haldia and Gujarat refineries ment programme of BARC. This resulted in large savings by At Kalpakkam, the Fast Breeder avoiding shut-down of the plants. Test Reactor (FBTR), with indige- NFC, which meets the fuel needs of nously developed carbide fuel core, the nuclear power reactors, effected During the year BRIT sold reached a power level of 10.2 MW improvements in the production line Rs. 11.70 crore worth of nnioiso- with valving-in of water into the steam which resulted in higher production topes. Radioisotope products and generator. The research and de- of zirconium oxide. equipment valued at Rs.55 lakh were velopment work carried out by BARC exported. A total of 12 peta Bec- Waste Immobilization Plant (WIP) querel (330 kilo Curie) of radiation at Tarapur became operational dur- Uraninite veins in quartzite sources were supplied by BRiT for ing the year. Very few countries of the use in medicine, agriculture, industry world possess this technology. and research. Also, about 55,000 India is a major producer of consignments of various radiophar- radioisotopes and allied products maceuticals were supplied for use in which have varied applications in nuclear medicine, enabling an esti- radiography, training, nuclear medi- mated 6.5 lakhs patient investiga- cine and research. The research tions. Radiation sterilisation services reactors at Trombay were employed offered by the Isomed plant at Trom- for the development of reactor tech- bay were utilised by manufacturers of nology and production of radioiso- medical products and about 8200 Tissue cultured Banana Plant 425 cubic metre capacity uesannauon

cubic metres (95,500 cartons) of medical products were sterilised During 1993, over 24,000 patients were registered in the Tata Memorial Hospital. The programme under nuclear agriculture covered activities relating Radiation for health care: Patient being Parallel Processing Computer Anupam to crop improvement, food preserva- examined for thyroid problem tion, fertilizer studies; biopesticide The other salient research activi- pies, was also developed at and basic and applied research in ties were as follows: Trombay. the field of agriculture. One variety of 1 The pilot scale 425 cubic metre/ Some of the facilities at the Nation- blackgram anc two varieties of mus- day desalination plant was success- al Centre for Compositional Charac- tard were notified by the Ministry of fully operated at Trombay. The plant terisation of Materials at Hyderabad, Agriculture for commercial cultiva- produces potable water from sea wa- became functional. This centre, tion. The mungbean variety TARM-2, ter. BARC will develop bigger plants which is a unique facility in the coun- for rabi cultivation, was accepted by based on this technology. try, will cater to all the requirements the Maharashtra State Seed Commit- involving specialised analytical stu- tee for release in Vidarbha region. The Variable Energy Cyclotron at dies. The large seeded groundnut variety Calcutta and the 14 million volt pel- TG-19A was also recommended for letron accelerator at Bombay con- Under the laser programme, a release in the Konkan region by the tinued to render service to resear- compact prototype transverse flow joint AGRESCO Meeting 1993. The chers. carbon dioxide (CO2) laser was de- seed production programme of veloped at CAT, Indore. The centre Maharashtra State Seed Corporation Research was conducted in the also commissioned the microtron for is expected to produce about 3100 synthesis and study of several prom- lndus-1 which is one of the two syn- metric tons (te) of seeds of Trombay ising superconducting materials. A chrotron radiation sources. varieties of pulses and oil seeds. bismuth monolayer cuprate super- BARC also completed installation of conductor, with a superconducting Radiological safety and environ- a transportable demonstration irra- transition temperature of 70 Kelvin, mental surveillance programmes diator for onion. At Trombay, about was synthesised. were carried out at all the nuclear installations of DAE. The releases of 10,000 plants were regenerated An 8-node parallel processing sys- radioactivity in the liquid and through tissue culture and subjected tem capable of 52m FLOPS speed, to field trials. gaseous forms from all the nuclear was upgraded to 24-nodes with thrice power stations were well below the the speed. permissible limits and radiation dose 12 MeV microtron for medical use At BARC a thermal ionisation mass resulting from operation of the nuc- spectrometer with a larger analyser lear power stations remained far be- was also developed for the isotopic low the limits prescribed by the Ato- analysis of nuclear fuel materials. mic Energy Regulatory Board The indigenous lab facility for de- (AERB). position of diamond films became functional and crystalline diamond The Environmental Survey Labor- deposits were obtained. The metho- atories at different locations con- dology for the determination of hyd- tinuously assessed the environmental rogen at trace levels in zircaloy sam- impact of the operations of nuclear Gamma Ray Computed Tomographic Thermograph of PFBR Reactor Imaging System Assembly

installations by analysing air, water, soil and food samples around these facilities. BARC also successfully lo- cated the three radioactive sources from the Coovam river at Madras. Ab- out 100,000 persons living near the high background radiation areas in Kerala were screened under a radia- Recovery of radioactive sources from Environment Care tion dosimetric study and Coovam river epidemiological survey programme was undertaken in collaboration with the Regional Cancer Research Cen- tre, Trivandrum.

The description of the major activi- ties of DAE organisations during the period 1993-94, is given in following classified trpics.

Satellite picture of a part of Andhra Pradesh by remote sensing technique. ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES (1993-94)

15 1.5

In Percentage Nuclear Power Programme Rs. in Crores 1388

1 Atomic Minerals Division & UCIL 76 2 Nuclear Fuel Complex 268 Research & Development 3 Hetvy Water Projects 344 Rs. in Crores 357

7 Bhabha Atomic Research Centre 184 8 VariaUe^Energy Cyclotron Centre 10 9 Cent(e\for Advanced Technology 28 10 Indira Gandhi Centre for 38 Others Rs. in Crores 64

m 12 Industry & Extension Programme 23 13 Support Services 31 14 Direction & Administration 10 3 During 1992-93. the NPCIL posted [•AK POWER SECTOR IIG* profit of Rs.89 74 crores before appropriations.

Nuclear Power Generation During the year 1993, the operating nuclear power plants generated 6197 million units (MUs) of electricity. For the 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 1993-94 is estimated to reach about 5500 MUs as compared to 6650 MUs of actual generation during 1992-93. The de- crease was mainly due to Narora sta- tion remaining out of service during major part of the year. The cumulative generation from all the units in opera- tion till December, 1993 amounted to 87,235 MUs. During 1992-93, the NPCIL posted a net profit of Rs.89.74 crores before appropriations.

3.1.1 Tarapur Atomic Power Station (2x160 MWe BWR) This station logged about 48 reac- tor years of commercial operation as of December, 1993 with a cumulative Tarapur Atomic Power Station generation of 44350 MUs. It gener- ated 1951 MUs during the year 1993 equivalent of the steam for the nearby problem of the stuck fuel transfer and 1462 MUs during the period 1 heavy water plant. Table-2 gives the shuttle in the fuel transfer tube at the April to 31 December 1993. Table-1 generating performance for 1993. inspection bay end. gives unit-wise generating perform- ance for 1993. Unit-2 had a shutdown from 20 Unit-1 of the station continued to April to 8 June 1993 for various operate at power level limited to 100 Unit-2 was shutdown on 23 Febru- maintenance jobs and resolving the MWe. The cumulative generation of ary, 1993 for its thirteenth refuelling outage which continued till 18 June, TABLE - 1 1993. Unit-1 Unit-2 3.1.2 Rajasthan Atomic Power TAPS 01.01.93 01.04.93 01.01.93 01.04.93 Station (100, 200 MWe PHWR) to to to to 31.12.93 31.12.93 31.12.93 31.12.93 Unit-2 (200 MWe) recorded a Generation (MUs) 1088 775 863 687 cumulative generation of 14,420 MUs Capacity Factor (%) 78 73 62 65 upto the end of December, 1993 in- Availability Factor (%) 85 82 66 68 cluding 1070 MUs of electricity 1 Madras Atomic Power Station • Narora Atomic Power Station

electricity by this unit till December, 1993 was 8281 MUs including 84 MUs of electricity equivalent of the steam supplied to the nearby heavy water plant. This unit generated 216 MUs in 1993 and 155 MUs during the period 1 April to 31 December 1993. A minor but difficult heavy water leak in the over-pressure-relief device on its 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 permanently repairing this leak are in hand and have been taking some time because of the necessity for developing re- motely operated special tools in view of the difficult accessibility and high radiation 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, Rajasthan Atomic Power Station 1993. During the year 1993 the sta- tion generated 1703 MUs of electric- stages of the LP rotor of the turbine because of the restriction in the oper- ity and during the period 1 April to 31 and inservice inspection of coolant ating power level. December 1993 its generation was channels. The decontamination of 1074 MUs. Table-3 gives the unit- primary coolant system was also car- 3.1.4 Narora Atomic Power Station wise generating performance for ried out. (2x220 MWe PHWRs) 1993. Though Unit-2 achieved an annual This station generated 483 MUs The operating power levels of both availability factor of 76%, its capacity during the year 1993. Its cumulative the units continued to be limited to factor (based on the rating of 220 generation till December 1993 175 MWe as per the stipulations of MWe) for 1993 was only 57% mainly amounted to 2597 MUs. The Table-4 the AERB. Analytical and ex- perimental work for raising the oper- ating power are continuing. TABLE - 2 The performance of Unit-1Vof the 01.01.93 01.04.93 station got affected as a planned RAPS UNIT-2 to to shutdown taken on 31 July 1993 for 31.12.93 31.12.93 maintenance and inspecting the tur- Generation (MUs) 1281 927 bine got extended beyond the ex- Capacity Factor (%) 73 70 pected three months because of the Availability Factor (%) 80 77 requirements for modifying the last r gives the unitwise generating per- formance.

The Unit-1 operated well for the first three months of 1993 producing 384 MUs with a capacity factor of 81%. However, a fire incident in the turbine generator of this unit, on 31 March 1993 due to sudden failure of turbine blades caused damage to tur- bine generator, power and control cables and bus duct in the turbine building, putting the unit out of ser- vice for the rest of the year. The fire did not affect the reactor building or the nuclear systems. During this fire incident, the reactor safety systems performed as per design intent. There was no release of radiation, hence no spread of contamination to site or en- vironment.

The performance of Unit-2 of the station was also affected as common output panels and related cables lo- cated in Unit-1 Turbine building suf- fered damage. As a result, this unit which was on outage at the begin- ning of the year mainly for repairing the rotor of its turbine generator, had to remain shutdown till 19 November, 1993.

The Committees constituted by AERB and NPCIL analysed the de- tails of the Narora fire incident. The Madras Atomic Power Station rehabilitation programme of the units was taken into account the recom- mendations to prevent recurrence of TABLE - 3 such an incident besides modifying Unit-1 Unit-2 the last stage LP blades and rerout- MAPS 01.01 93 01.04.93 01.01.93 01 .04.93 ing of the cables. Consequent to the to to to to Narora fire incident, in-service in- 31.12.93 31.12.93 31.12.93 31.12.93 spection of turbines in the other simi- Generation (MUs) lar units was carried out and modified 614 326 1089 748 Capacity Factor (%) LP stage blades are progressively 32 22 57 52 Availability Factor (%) being installed. 44 31 76 69 The first unit of the Kakrapar Atomic Kakrapar Atomic Power Station Power station was declared Kaiga Atomic Power Project commercial on 6 May 1993 The second unit has reached an advanced stage of construction and commissioning.

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 of 44% and an availability factor of 61 %. An initial regulatory limitation of the operating power to 75% full power and certain equipment problem affected the performance of this unit, which was stabilising after com- mencement of commercial operation.

. Nuclear Power Projects Under Construction

3.2.1 Kakrapar Atomic Power Project The first unit of the project, de- clared commercial in May 1993, was in operation as reported above. The second unit reached an advanced stage of construction and commis- sioning. The erection and commis- sioning activities of electrical and in- Narora Atomic Power Station strumentation systems reached an advanced stage of commissioning the present status, the unit is ex- already reached site. Steam gener- and completion. Moderator system, pected to achieve criticality shortly. ators-4&5 were received. Emergency secondary system, reactor auxiliary Core Cooling and Active Process Wa- systems and common service sys- 3.2.2 Kaiga Project ter (APW) heat exchangers and star- tems were ;ommissioned. Distillation (2x220 MWe PHWR) tup transformers for both the units, columns-1&2 were erected in the moderator pumps, bleed coolers, tur- heavy water upgrading plant which is Civil construction and equipment bine generator stator and moisture under commissioning. erection made significant progress. separator & reheater assembly for Main equipment and components one unit were received. Hot conditioning of the primary heat transport system, light water TABLE - 4 commissioning, and reactor building leak test were completed. Works re- Unit-1 Unit-2 lating to reactor regulation and pro- MAPS 01.01.93 01.04 01.01.93 01.04.93 tection systems reached final stages to to to to of commissioning. Erection & com- 31.12.93 31.12 C O C O 31.12.93 31.12.93 missioning of fuel handling system Generation (MUs) 384 0 99 99 are nearing completion. Erection Capacity Factor (%) 20 0 5 7 work of the Turbine Generator (TG) Availability Factor (%) 23 0 6 8 made significant progress. Based on

10 Civil construction and equipment erection for Kaiga Project has made significant progress.

Completed Civil Works include : In the Unit-2 erection of Endshields 3.2.3 RAPP-3&4 Reactor Building-1 (RB-1) Inner Con- & Calandria was completed. Calan- (2x220 MWe PHWR) tainment Wall (ICW) with the ring dria-Endshield welding and erection The civil construction works of the beam, Outer Containment Wall of Fuelling Machine Bridge & Col- (OCW) upto 117 M EL, inner contain- umns and Reactor headers made main plant buildings of the project ment dome concreting, and all the progress. Regarding nuclear piping, progressed and in unit-3, the equip- internal structures; all Turbine Build- about 17% of welding and 6% of ment erection and piping works com- ing-1 (TB-1) structures including erection were completed. Erection of menced. erection of the turbine hall crane (TB- the secondary cycle system equip- Apart from main equipment already 1 is nearing completion); Control ment progressed in TB-2. at site, other equipment such as Mod- Building (CB), civil construction upto 111 M EL; RB-2 ICW upto 129 M EL and concreting of the internal struc- tures upto 112.5M EL floor; and all structural works of TB- 2 upto 111 M EL. Civil works of other buildings such as Reactor Auxiliary Buildings (RAB), Service Building, Induced Draught Cooling Towers, Intake & Outfall Structures and Pumphouse made progress.

In the Unit-1 welding of Endshields and Calandria, and installation of Fuelling Machine Bridge & Columns, Reactor Headers and Calandria tubes were completed. The coolant channel installation continued. Steam generator erection is expected to start soon. Regarding nuclear pip- ing, about 35% of welding and 20% of erection works were completed. In Kakrapar Atomic Power Station TB-1, equipment such as boiler feed pumps, feed water heaters and The erection of switchyard struc- erator Pumps, CW Pumps, Roll-on- deaerators were erected. About 45% ture and stringing were completed Shield & Fixed shield for Unit-3, of condenser erection work was also and equipment erection made prog- Bleed Cooler and Endshields for completed. All the APW pumps and ress which is expected to be com- Unit-4, Deaerators and Emergency heat exchangers were erected. About pleted soon. The 220 KV line from Core Cooling Pumps for both the un- 60% welding and 20% of erection Nagjari Power Station, required for its and certain conventional equip- works of conventional system pack- commissioning power being buit by ment were received at site. ages were completed. Significant Karnataka Electricity Board is prog- progress was also made on the work ressing and is expected to be ready Completed Civil Works include packages for chlorination and filtra- by April, 1994. Units-1&2 are ex- Reactor Building-3 (RB-3) all cross & tion, demineralised water plant, com- pected to achieve criticality by June structural walls upto 111 M EL, ICW pressor plant, ventilation system, 1996 and December 1996 respec- upto 111.40 M EL. and OCW upto 104 chiller plant etc.. tively. M EL; TB-3 all slabs upto 116 M EL.

11 The civil construction works of the main plant buildings of the Rajasthan Atomic Power Project (RAPP) - 3&4 progressed and in unit-3, the equipment erectic:i and piping works commenced.

Kaiga Atomic Power Project and part slab at 121 M EL; CB the Pump Houses and structures like Live Steam reheater drain tanks & entire 100 M EL. slab and half of the Natural Draught Cooling Towers and pumps, etc. were erected. Qualifica- 106 M slab; RB-4 all slabs at 100 M Induced Draught Cooling Towers tion of welders for nuclear piping and EL. and 103.35 M EL and East side made progress. prefabrication of secondary cycle slab at 107.3 M EL. and Calandria and out door piping made progress. Vault; TB-4, TG top deck (111 M EL); In Unit-3 Calandria, Endshields and switchyard civil works. The 112 and Moderator heat exchangers were M slab, ICW upto 131 M EL. and erected. The alignment of Calandria Units-3&4 are scheduled to erection of IC dome in RB-3, all TB-3 and Endshields was completed and achieve criticality in November 1996 works and Unit-3 portion of CB are welding would soon be completed. and May 1997 respectively. expected to be completed during the Main Plant electrical contract was year 1994. Civil works of other build- awarded and work on cable tray sup- ings like RABs, Service Building, Cir- ports started. Active Process Water culating Water and Safety Related heat exchangers, moisture separater, 12 > New Starts • 500MWe PHWR

3 3 New Starts bine Generator for the first unit also ery and critical equipment were initi- reached completion. ated based on partial financial sanc- 3.3.1 Tarapur Atomic Power tions accorded by the Government of Authorisation for construction, Project 3&4 India. Further actions on Kaiga 3 to 6 commencement for TAPP-3&4 was (2x500 MWe PHWR) and RAPP 5 & 6 projects proposed in issued by AERB in September, 1993. the VIII plan were kept in abeyance Most of the activities related to site Award of main plant civil works is pending availability of funds. Possi- infrastructure were completed during awaiting availability of funds. Possi- bility of setting up Kaiga 3 & 4 (2 x the year. Land acquisition made bility of setting up a Joint Venture 220 MWe) as a joint sector project further progress. The rehabilitation Company to undertake this project with Southern Region States is being package for the project affected fami- was discussed with the representa- explored. Discussions continued with lies was finalised and formal approv- tives of Maharashtra and Gujarat the Russian Federation on the prop- al from the State Government is awa- Governments. Details are being ex- osed 2 x 1000 MWe project at ited. Some of the main plant equip- amined. Kudankulam, Tamil Nadu. ment were received at site. Detailed design and engineering work made 3 4 Planned Schemes further progress. Preparation of the detailed foundation drawings Earlier in the previous years, en- reached final stages. vironmental and safety clearances for the sites to set up Kaiga 3 to 6 (4 x For the two units manufacture of 220 MWe) and RAPP 5 to 8 (4 x 500 Calandrias was completed earlier. MWe) were obtained and advance Manufacture of Endshields and fab- actions on procurement of long deliv- rication of coolant channel compo- nents continued. Manufacture of Tur-

The first indigenously fabricated pressuriser for 500 MWe reactor reaching site

13 Production of heavy water has improved over the last few years. The performance of all the heavy water plants during the year was satisfactory.

3 5 Heavy Water sequence of the improvements The performance of the Tuticorin effected. (Tamilnadu) plant was satisfactory The performance of all the heavy though it was affected to some extent water plants during the year was due to tube rupture of a heat exchan- The Baroda (Gujarat) plant per- satisfactory, however the plant at Tal- ger, problems of gas supply from the formed on sustained basis except for cher had restricted operation The fertilizer plant to which it is linked the period from June to July 1993 due Plant-wise performance is as follows: and sudden flooding due to heavy to the planned major annual turn- rains. 3.5.1 Heavy Water Plants around. The potassium metal manu- facturing plant, situated near the The Nangal (Panjab) plant con- plant, also worked satisfactorily and The Thai (Maharashtra) plant oper- tinued to produce heavy water on produced potassium for making ated on sustained basis and pro- sustained basis with higher through- catalyst for use in the ammonia duced heavy water commensurate put and on-stream factor, as a con- based heavy water plants. with the inputs from the fertilizer

Heavy Water Plant at Hazira, Gujarat 14 Heavy Water Plant, Manuguru, Andhra Pradesh. The Plant is using indigenous hydrogen sulphide-water exchange process developed at BARC

15 Performance of the heavy water upgrading plants is being continuously improved by improving on their design.

plant. The Upgrading Plant is ex- 3.5.2 Heavy Water Upgrading tillation was put into operation at pected to be commissioned shortly. Baroda, utilizing the highly efficient So far, BARC has put up 12 up- tower internals developed in BARC. grading units at different nuclear The Hazira (Gujarat) plant con- Additional upgrading plant (13th) at power and heavy water plant sites. tinued production of heavy water but Heavy Water Plant, Thai and two Performance of the heavy water up- more units (14th & 15th) at Kakrapar under reduced load due to retrofitting grading plants is being continuous- of one of the two ammonia units of the fertilizer plant to which it is linked, and curtailment of gas supply by Gas Authority of India Ltd.(GAIL). The op- eration of the upgrading unit at Hazira which was commissioned last year has stabilised.

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

Performance of the Manuguru (Andhra Pradesh) Plant during the year showed marked improvement though it was affected to some extent, by the problems in captive power plant. Part of the plant was under annual turn-around. Thereafter the plant continued operation achieving higher levels of production. External coal handling system was also com- missioned. The capacity of the sys- tem was brought up to 100%. Heavy Water Upgrading plant set up by BARC at Narora The Talcher (Orissa) Plant was ly improved by improving on their have been erected and await com- operated commensurate with the in- design. Operation of these final en- missioning. puts available. Whenever inputs in richment units in tandem with the the required quality and quantity main heavy water plant ensures sus- Commissioning of BARC designed were available from the fertilizer plant tained production at the required and engineered advanced pressure to which it is linked. However, the capacity and enrichment level, allow- electrolyser generating high purity Plant could not be run on sustained ing sufficient flexibility in the opera- hydrogen and oxygen, fabrication of manner due to the problems regard- tions of the main plant. During the an oxy-hydrogen flame generator for ing availability of inputs in an uninter- year, an additional (twelfth) final en- precision welding, boring and other rupted manner. richment unit based on vacuum dis- allied fabrication jobs and designing 16 TARGETS AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE PRINCIPAL ACTIVITIES OF AMD

20,000 1400 - A sizeable near-sur'ace uranium ore-body was established

Now surface ijranifo'ou1- /ones wore 1200 - discovered and extent.ins of known occurrences vvere de!iner)ied ip 15,000 - various par!s of [he O'u'Wry Ir'.'niq'r. 1000

800 - 10,000 and fabrication of a portable hyd- rogen sulphide-in-air monitoring and 600 - warning device were the salient de- velopments during this period. & CO 400- Atomic Minerals 5,000 The Atomic Minerals Division (AMD) is responsible tor exploration, 200 - evaluation and characterization of atomic mineral resources required for the Indian nuclear power programme. I Design and fabrication of radiometric Rec. Survey Geochem. Detailed RJ. Survey Geophy. Heavy Min. RMRE instruments, and development of ore Survey Survey Survey Survey Survey extraction flow-sheets, related to the above activities are also being car- ried out. !

A sizeable near-surface uranium 50 ore-body was established in a new geological environment at Lambapur, Nalgonda district, Andhra Pradesh and additional reserves of 3,200 te uranium oxide from different deposits 40 - were added to the uranium resource inventory of the country. Exploratory mining was completed at Tummala- palle, Andhra Pradesh and ex- 30 - perimental mining commenced at Jajawal, Madhya Pradesh. About 500 kg of yellow cake (sodium diuranate) was produced £ 20 " from the test recovery plants at Domiasiat, Meghalaya; Kandi, Himaohal Pradesh; and Bodal, Madhya Pradesh. 10 - New surface uranifefous zones were discovered and extensions of known occurrences were delineated in various parts of the country through ground radiometric and geological Cb-T.a SpodumenIe Beryl Xenotime investigations. Besides subsurface of Mineral uraniferous zones were established by exploratory drilling. TARGET 1993-94 ACHIEVEMENTS 1993-94 TARGET 1994-95

17 Xenotime bearing polymineralic concentrate of over 40 tonnes was recovered from Siri and Deo rivers. Xenotime reserves were augmented by 200 te from various riverines.

Potential tracts of heavy minerals were identified.

Xenotime bearing polymineralic concentrate of about 40 tonnes was produced from recovery plants in Siri river, Madhya Pradesh and Deo river, Bihar. Xenotime reserves of the order of 200 tonnes were estimated from various riverine placers in Madhya Pradesh. New areas of potential xenotime occurrences were located in Mahaboobnagar district, Andhra Pradesh; Raichur district, Karnataka; and Nagpur district, Maharashtra. Columbite-tantalite concentrate, spo- dumene, and beryl were produced from mobile recovery plants at Marla- galla, Karnataka and Metapal, Madhya Pradesh. Potential tracts of heavy minerals were identified along the east coast Ground radiometric survey being T"[ in Ganjam district, Orissa and Srika- conducted in parts of kulam district, Andhra Pradesh. In- Andhra Pradesh formation on total heavy mineral re- sources of the country based on over four decades of AMD's work was synthesized in a report. Another re- port on heavy mineral reserves of eastern extension of IREL Mining Block-I, Chavara deposits was also prepared. Geotechnical investigations re- lated to the site at Kudankulam, Tamil Nadu were continued. A report on the seis- motectonic status of the Coromandal coast between Madras and Pon- dicherry was also prepared. Geotec- tonic investigations and radon moni- toring in the areas affected by Latur earthquake were carried by AMD. Ex- ploratory drilling connected with selection of sites under RIP (Reposi- tory for Immobilised-waste Products) Project commenced at Kalpakkam. The laboratories of AMD provided analytical support to field investiga- tions besides carrying out research and development work. Spiral concentrator tor xenotime recovery at Siri river, Madhya Pradesh

Chairman AEC visits Domiasiat, Meghaiaya

Heavy mineral concentrations in sand dunes, Srikakulam coast, Andhra Pradesh 19 Indigenously fabricated cold reduction mill for production of small diameter \ During the year, the facilities at seamless'tubes Trombay continued to supply the metallic uranium fuel for the research reactors. Fabrication and supply of fuel bundles for the operation of reactors at Tar^ur, Rawatbhata, Kalpakkam, Narora and Kakrapar Natural uranium fuel pellets manufactured by NFC were continued at NFC, Hyderabad.

3 " Nuciear Fuels During the year, the facilities at Trombay continued to supply the metallic uranium fuel for the research reactors. Fabrication and supply of fuel bundles for the operation of reac- tors at Tarapur, Rawatbhata, Kalpak- kam, Narora and Kakrapar were con- tinued at NFC, Hyderabad. The bulk of the production operations were carried on with the help of indige- nously designeo and fabricated equipment.

3.7.1 Zircaloy Products An all-time high record of over 200 te of the production of zirconium oxide powder was achieved by NFC through process modifications and The production of zircaloy ingots improvements in the production line, was continued and about 60 te of especially the solvent extraction puri- zircaloy scrap was recycled by NFC. fication section. Production of zirco- A large computer controlled vacuum nium sponge was continued in the arc melting furnace was erected and newly introduced large capacity re- commissioned and a large welding duction and vacuum distillation units. machine for fabrication of consum- able electrodes for arc melting was Emphasis was laid on recycling of installed. To meet the needs of the available scrap to minimise inventor- nuclear power programme for zirca- ies and methods were standardised loy ingots, a computer controlled by NFC for re-working of rejected melting furnace and electron beam PHWR fuel elements. Considerable (EB) welding machine were set up. quantity of zircaloy scrap was recy- Several process modifications were cled through the sponge route. also introduced by NFC. A new final compacting press was commissioned and a special pur- Fabrication and supply of calan- pose double head turning machine dria tubes, shut-off tubes and flow was installed at NFC for finishing op- tubes for RAPP-4 and fabrication of erations in the fuel tubes. For efficient zirconium-niobium coolant tubes for crushing and blending of sponge Kaiga-2 and RAPP-4 reactors were lots, a double cone blender and a jaw completed by NFC. To manufacture crusher were commissioned. Re- the seamless calandria tubes for 500 novation of plant building and im- MWe reactor, modifications on the provement of work atmosphere by in- existing mill were carried out. The troducing high capacity blowers and trial tubes of this size are under pro- exhaust system were also completed duction. A few pressure tubes along by NFC. with several spool pieces of different 20 For meeting the requirement of the nuclear progtamme of the country. NFC Mas boon setting up lour new prefects

Indigenously fabricated high temperature sintering furnace

lengths were produced for evaluation at BARC."

3.7.2 New Projects for Fuel & Zircaloy For meeting the requirement of the nuclear programme of the country, NFC has been setting up four new projects (Table-I) during the VIII and IX plans. For all these projects, apart from site authorisation, requisite clearances were obtained from AERB, State Pollution Control Boards and Department of Environment. The New Uranium Oxide Fuel Pro- ject being set up at Hyderabad, is scheduled to be commissioned by December 1995. Construction work of the Process Plant and essential Utii- ityBuildings continued. Procure- Twin station arc melting furnace for production ofzircaloy inject ment action also reached advanced stage for major packages/equipment. For the New Uranium Fuel Assem- bly Project all the major packages for civil works, electrical works, utility equipment and process equipment were finalised and reached different stages of implementation. The land 21 During the year, research was directed towards improving the • Advanced Fuels present technology for the production • Mixed Oxide Fuel fabrication • Carbide Fuel for FBTR of metallic and oxide uranium fuel as • Fuel for Prototype Fast well as for the development of Breeder Reactor (PFBR) advanced fuels.

around plant building was developed Defence Metallurgical Research PHWR fuel. This new process is also and landscaping work progressed. Laboratory (DMRL), Hyderabad. amenable for automation and re- The first module is expected to be motiza'iion and leads to considerable At Palayakayal project site, major commissioned by December, 1995. energy savings during sintering. enabling and infrastructure civil Work on fabrication of a low tempera- Construction of *he New Zircaloy works were completed during the ture continuous sintering furnace was Fabrication Plant buildings, roads year. The site is now ready for plant also continued. etc progressed. Some of the major construction. equipment were received. Procure- 3.8.2 MOX Fuel ment action for other process-anc:- 3.8 Advanced Fuels utiiity equipment reached advanced Fabrication of MOX fuel was taken To meet the requirements of the stage. First module of the plant is up in Advanced Fuel Fabrication future nuclear power programme, expected to be commissioned by the Facility (AFFF) Tarapur through a BARC has been carrying out research end of 1995. novel mechanical milling route. Faci- and development work on MOX and lities for quality control of MOX fuel FBR fuels. During the year, research were also set up. 3.7.3 New Zirconium Sponge Plant was directed towards improving the Action was taken for setting up a present technology for the production With the fabrication of MOX fuel new zirconium sponge plant at of metallic and oxide uranium fuel as assemblies for power reactors, India Palayakayal village, near Tuticorin, well as for the development of adv- entered a select band of advanced Tamilnadu. Due to the revision of the anced fuels. countries which have acquired such DAE's power programme, the capac- capability. ity of zirconium sponge plant has now 3.8.1 Fuel Research been planned at 200 tonnes per year A scheme to recycle plutonium in (TPY). In addition to this a 1000 TPY Salient activities in this field at 220 MWe PHWR was worked out at titanium sponge plant and a 1400 BARC included, process for the pre- Trombay and its effects on the reactor TPY magnesium plant have been paration of free flowing uranium diox- control and shut down systems were studied. All aspects of MOX, as an planned for this site. The magnesium ide UO2 powder for use in direct plant is for captive electrolytic pro- pelletisation and sintering to high de- alternative fuel for TAPS, were also cessing of the byproduct | anhydrous nsity pellets. A sol-gel microsphere studied. magnesium chloride from zirconium pelletisation and low temperature ox- and titanium sponge production. The idative sintering process was de- 3.8.3 Carbide Fuel technologies for titanium and'magne- veloped for the fabrication of high Sintered mixed uranium-plutonium sium metals will be provided by the density pellets for carbide fuel pellets for the second core of FBTR were prepared at BARC. Tests showed that the fuel will cause TABLE - negligible carburisation of the clad- Plant Capacity ding.

1. New Uranium Oxide Fuel Plant, 670 T of UO2 pellets per year. Hyderabad 3.8.4 PFBR Fuel 2. New Uranium Fuel Assembly PHWR fuel assemblies containing As part of fhe fuel development Plant, Hyderabad 600 T of UO2 per year. programme for the Prototype Fast 3. New Zirconium Sponge Plant, 200 T Zirconium sponge per year Breeder Reactor (PFBR), a dust free Palayakayal, Tamilnadu. sol-gel microsphere pelletisation 4. New Zircaloy Fabrication Plant, 80 T Zircaloy fuel tubes and other process was developed for fabrica- Hyderabad. components per year. tion of fuel pellets.

22 Train of glove boxes for manufacture of mixed carbide fuel

Uranium-233 based fuel fabricated at BARC

Mixed carbide fuel pellets for FBTR manufactured by BARC

PFBR components manufactured at the Nuclear Fuel Complex 23 An all-time high record of over iiuu MT of the production of zirconium oxide powder was achieved by NFC through process modifications and improvements in the production line. To create the required Plutonium base !or the Fast Breeder Programme, spent fuel reprocessing capacity in the country is being enhanced Remote controlled chopper for breaking spent fuel

•>• Radioactive Waste Manage- tries who have the technology of vitri- ment fication of radioactive waste. The Indian nuclear energy prog- The waste management facilities at ramme offers a very high priority to various nuclear installation sites health and safety of the public & pro- operated satisfactorily throughout the tection of the environment, by a safe year and the radioactivity released management of the radioactive into the environment was well within wastes. India is one of the few coun- the prescribed limits. The environ- t-uel Reprocessing Kalpakkam Reprocessing Plant (KARP) at IGCAR To create the required Plutonium base for the Fast Breeder Program- me, spent fuel reprocessing capacity in the country is being enhanced in a phased manner. Two reprocessing plants are in operation at Trombay and Tarapur, and a third plant is com- ing up at Kalpakkam.

The reprocessing plant at Trombay continued to process spent uranium fuel from Dhruva. The Power Reactor Fuel Reprocessing Plant (PREFRE), Tarapur, remained under a brief maintenance outage during the period. Preparations continued to start the next campaign with fresh fuel material from the power reactor. Kalpakkam Fuel Reprocessing Plant Project (KARP), for reprocessing the spent uranium fuel from MAPS en- tered the final phase of construction. Plans for setting up another reproces- sing plant of larger through-put are on the anvil.

Technology for the separation of uranium-233 from irradiated thorium fuel already developed and success- fully demonstrated. An engineering scale facility for this purpose was under construction at Trombay. This will process the thorium fuel ele- ments undergoing irradiation in the research reactors.

24 The Waste immobilisation Plant • WlPi a! Tarapur provided valuable ex defence :r> thp sophisticated vi!' 'icat.or technology

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

The Waste- Immobilisation Plant (WIP) at Tarapur became operational during the year and provided valu- able experience in the sophisticated Waste Immobilisation Plant at Tarapur vitrification technology. The Waste A number of research and develop- wastes and for their safe contain- Immobilization Plant Project at Trom- ment programmes were initiated to ment, out of contact with the bios- bay reached advanced stage of con- bring the waste management tech- phere. A significant development struction and work on a similar pro- nology to the state-of-art level by de- was the new solid matrices for remov- ject made steady progress at Kal- veloping improved processes for the ing the long life fission product pakkam. treatment and conditioning of the radionuclides.

Schematic view of air cooled solid storage surveillance facility at Tarapur 25 During the /ear DAE continued to accord highest priority to maintaining !he prescribed safety standards.

' Safety and Environment Protection The commitment of DAE to safety encompasses all the activities of the nuclear fuel cycle ranging from min- ing, fuel fabrication and power gen- eration to fuel reprocessing and waste management. Radiation expo- sure to employees and the public is continuously monitored, and ensured to be within permissible limits as stipulated by the Atomic Energy Reg- Radmon: Radiation monitoring instrument

Hand-and-foot contamination monitor

these facilities. Internal and external Maintenance work being done at NAPS exposures to the workers engaged in radioactive work were monitored to ulatory Board. BARC carries out sur- er stations were well below the per- enforce compliance with the regula- missible limits and radiation dose re- veillance and radiological monitoring tory requirements. for operations at all the DAE installa- sulting from operation of the nuclear tions. power stations remained far below NPC maintained databases on the limits prescribed by AERB. radiological and industrial safety and used for safety related management. 3.11.1 Radiological Safety The Environmental Survey Labor- It also carried out radiometric inspec- atories (ESLs) at different locations Radiological safety and environ- tion for evaluation of the shielding continuously assessed the environ- mental surveillance programmes integrity of various assemblies. were maintained at all the nuclear mental impact of operations of the installations of DAE. The releases of nuclear installations by analysing air, Following the fire incident at NAPS- radioactivity from all the nuclear pow- water, soil and food samples around 1 site, detailed area and environmen- 26 ft i Jfc- •

7 %*

Environmental Survey Laboratory, Kalpakkam tal monitoring were carried out promptly. Results of the monitoring established that no radioactivity was released into the plant areas or the surroundings due to the fire incident.

An "Integrated Simulation Environ- ment" (ISE) software was developed by NPC for supporting dynamic simulation of power plants. Develop- ment of Computer codes for safety analysis of various systems beyond- design-basis accident scenarios and probabilistic safety assessment con- tinued.

Also a modified aerial gamma spectrometric system was interfaced to a satellite based Global Position- ing Navigational System.

Health Physics services of BARC Public Awareness Programme in action at Kalpakkam were extended to the operation in- volving the successful retrieval of rial and research applications was About 100,000 persons living near three radioactive sources from the also implemented. In the field of the high background radiation areas Coovam river at Madras. radiation safety, a number of new in- in Kerala were screened under a struments and methodologies were radiation dosimetric study and The radiation safety programme in developed. During the year, as part of epidemiological survey programme non-DAE institutions all over the contrywide personnel monitoring undertaken in collaboration with the country using radioisotopes and programme of BARC, 43,000 radia- Regional Cancer Research Centre, radiation sources for medical, indust- tion workers were monitored. Trivandrum. 27 3 ' ' 2 Industrial Safety During the year, all the atomic energy establishments not only main- DAE continued to accord highest tained but also enriched healthy en- priority to maintaining the prescribed vironment. Environment monitoring safety standards. To improve safety was continued by ESLs. For radioac- culture, training programmes in safe- tivity content, a large number of sam- ty were intensified by the DAE Orga- ples of air, water, soil and others were nisations, environmental control mea- analysed. Results of the analyses sures were further improved and showed that radiation exposures to afforestation work was pursued. Safe- public due to the operation of nuclear ty of occupational staff was con- facilities at various sites were well tinuously monitored. Medical check- within the limits prescribed by the ups and bioassays were conducted regulatory bodies. Air sampler and records of health parameters maintained. 3 11.4 Emergency Preparedness Environment Raoiological Labora- Industrial hygiene surveys were The operating plants of DAE con- tory at Kakrapar was equipped with conducted by BARC in various units tinued to carry out various types of environment monitoring set-up and of DAE. It also prepared safety manu- emergency exercises in accordance made operational. To establish the als for use and guidance in heavy with their respective regulatory re- base-line data for Kakrapar Atomic water plants of DAE. quirements. Power Project (KAPP) environment, NPC brought out manuals on train- health survey around KAPP were 3 115 Quality Assurance ing and safety aspects. Seminars/ completed by the South Gujarat Uni- training courses on Industrial Safety versity and their Biotic Survey in the Quality Assurance is the key ele- were conducted at various sites. region continued. The Environment ment of the nuclear safety program- Safety Committees. Internal Safety Radiological Laboratory at Kaiga re- me. Quality assurance audits on ma- Audit Teams and Fire Safety Audit mained engaged in establishing jor manufacturers and project sites Teams were formed at the NPC plant base-line data. At Kaiga, a SODAR were carried out by NPC apart from sites. laboratory also started functioning ongoing quality surveillance on va- during the year. The studies by the rious procured items for projects The Industrial Safety, Fire Safety Karnataka University on impact of under construction and operating sta- and Green Site Awards of AERB were Kaiga plant's anticipated discharges tions. Special services to operating won by NPCIL units. NPCIL has also to Kali river and their studies on bio- stations and projects in In-service in- instituted an Industrial Safety Award. tic species progressed. The study on spection was continued. Corporate the "Epidemiological studies of Quality Assurance Policy Document 3 113 Environment Protection occupational workers and their fami- was finalised and released for imple- lies" awarded by NPC to the Tata Protection of environment is built mentation. Quality Surveillance ser- Memorial Centre also progressed. into the regular procedures for siting, vices were rendered to other orga- The status of thermal discharges from designing and operation of all plants. nisations of DAE as required. Also Nuclear Power Stations operating in It is ensured by monitoring and ana- non-destructive testing (NDT) ser- India was presented to Expert Com- lysing all pathways of transport of vices to external organisations such mittee constituted by the Central radioactivity. At each nuclear site, as BHEL were rendered as required Pollution Control Board (CPCB) for Environment Survey Laboratory (ESL) on commercial basis. Development reviewing temperature limit for ther- monitors radioactivity in water, efforts of In-service inspection tools mal discharges. vegetation and food products. were pursued.

28 The Department has comprehensive • Reactor Engineering programme of development of • SOOMWe Development breeder technology aimed at • Advanced Heavy Water Reactor maximising the use of country's • Fast Breeder Test Reactor reserves of uranium and thorium. • PFBR Research and Development

3 12 Reactor Designing and a large number of channels in the work in support-of a secondary shut financed Reactors operating reactors. Other significant down system for the reactor made achievements were the development progress. Installation of a burst test The Department has comprehen- of an Integrated Garter Spring Re- facility for determining failure sive programme of development of positioning System (INGRES); a thresholds for pressurised compo- breeder technology aimed at max- coolant channel replacement nents continued. imising the use of country's reserves machine and a methodology to moni- 3.12.3 Advanced Heavy Water of uranium and thorium. BARC is en- tor on-line the fatigue life of important Reactor gaged on reactor research directed nuclear power plant components. towards the development of im- The design work on Advanced proved and new reactor designs, and Advanced computer based instru- Heavy water Reactor (AHWR) made fuels such as oxide, carbide and nit- mentation for reactor control and pro- steady progress at BARC. An alterna- ride fuels. The Indira Gandhi Centre cess information & safety systems tive design of the AHWR core was for Atomic Research (IGCAR) at Kal- was also developed by BARC. also pursued. Analytical and ex- pakkam (Tamilnadu) is engaged in perimental studies progressed to the design and development of tech- 3.12.2 500 PHWR optimise the design of special equip- nology of sodium cooled fast breeder ment for this system. reactors (FBRs), including the de- The engineering design of the 500 velopment of various materials, fuel, MWe pressurised heavy water reactor manufacturing technology for fab- (PHWR), and thorium based adv- 3.12.4 Breeder Reactors rication of reactor components, fuel anced heavy water reactor (AHWR) At IGCAR, the Fast Breeder Test reprocessing techniques and also remained the main thrust of the R&D Reactor (FBTR) with indigenously de- safety studies related to FBRs. programme at BARC, along with the technology development for repair & veloped carbide core, reached a power level of 10.2 MWt in December 3.12.1 Reactor Engineering maintenance of operating reactors, qualification of components, de- 1993, with the valving-in of water into Activities to assess and establish velopment of diagnostic techniques, the steam generator. Out-of-pile the safety of PHWR coolant channels reactor safety research and ageing simulation studies were also con- were continued at BARC. A system management. ducted on carbide fuel to evaluate its for removal of hydrogen bearit.g thin thermal behaviour at various linear slivers of material from pressure BARC provided support for the de- heat rating (LHR) which was in- tubes of operating reactors was de- sign of systems and components of strumental in getting clearance for signed and developed for examining the 500 MWe PHWR. Experimental operation 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 cell at IGCAR

The IGCAR has generated considerable experties in structural mechanics and thermo-hydraulics to carryout detailed design of PFBR.

Design analysis and technology development for 500 MWe prototype fast breeder reactor (PFBR) made further progress at Kalpakkam. With the objective of cost reduction, stu- dies were carried out with three/two loop configuration. The IGCAR has generated con- siderable experties in structural mechanics and thermo-hydraulics to carryout detailed design of PFBR. Hydraulic development of primary sodium pump for PFBR was com- pleted on 1/3 scale model. The con- struction of the large component test rig for testing major reactor- components was completed and commissioning continued. Also, ex- perimental flow induced vibration studies on PFBR thermal baffles were completed. Other achievements of the Centre included completion of in- dustrial validation of processing maps for 304L, 316L and alloy 09.

At IGCAR the hot cell facility for post-irradiation examination of irradi- ated fuel and other materials from FBTR, was made ready for operation. The first batch of capsules for car- rying out fuel irradiation experiments in FBTR wa? fabricated to stringent specifications. Eddy current test method was successfully developed for measurement of thickness of alu- minium coating on zinc oxide base, which finds application in insulator manufacturing industry.

ADVANCED HEAVY WATER REACTOR

30 FBTR core

31

4 BEYOND NUCLEAR POWER

The non-electricity applications of cobalt-60 was produced and over atomic energy are in the areas re- 1000 samples of target materials lated to food and agriculture, health were irradiated in Cirus and Apsara and industry. for similar purpose. Irradiation testing of mixed oxide fuel (MOX) and thor- 4 1 Research Reactors at Trombay ium fuel pins was continued at Cirus. These reactors also served as invalu- Dhruva, Cirus and Apsara are the able tools for research in neutron and operating research reactors at Trom- solid state physics. Dhruva, a nation- bay for the development of reactor al facility now, was used for research technology and production of by various academic institutions in radioisotopes. the country under the ageis of Inter- Dhruva Building Over 400 samples of target mate- University Consortium (IUC) for DAE rials were irradiated for production of facilities. studies on ageing of various systems, isotopes for cancer therapy, non- components and structures were car- destructive testing, agricultural re- There are plans to refurbish Cirus ried out by BARC. For Apsara, en- search and preparation of radiophar- and Apsara reactors. For refurbishing gineering design of the modification maceuticals. Also 2,00,000 Curies of requirments of Cirus reactor, detailed was worked out and the safety analy-

Panoramic view of Dhruva and Cirus at Trombay

«. H Cirus and Dhruva produce an almost full range of radioisotopes to meet domestic demands. Some are being exported to the neighbouring countries 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-

33 Radioisotopes being produced at BARC 34 During the period of report over 30,000 patients were examined at Radiation Medicine Centre (RMC) of BARC.

tions. BARC has made substantial Brain imaging contribution to the development and done at the promotion of radioisotope and radia- Radiation tion applications for the industrial Medicine modernisation of our country. Centre of BARC 4 3 Industrial Applications of Radioisotopes Its work during the year included hygienisation of municipal sewage sludge, study of silt movement or dynamics of bedload sediments in destructive diagnosis of the malfunc- RMC Radioiodine was administered ports; non-destructive testing by tioning of distillation and extraction to 300 patients for treatment of thyr- radiography and control of industrial columns in oil refineries was suc- otoxicosis. About 280 patients of thyr- processes using nucleonic control cessfully applied in the Indian Oil oid cancer were investigated and tre- systems. Corporation's Haldia and Gujarat re- ated. As part of laboratory services During the period of report, a fineries. This resulted in large sav- about 13,000 in-vitro studies were gaseous radioactive tracer was suc- ings by avoiding shut-down of the done. During the period, 18 different plants. types of ligands based on tech- netium-99m were made available for Sludge Hygienisation Research medical diagnostic purposes. Irradiator (SHRI) at Baroda continued to function effectively. BARC plans to A cheaper and readily available extend the facility for the treatment of therapy based on phosphorus-32 — sewage effluent in cooperation with orthophosphate administration, was the 'Ganga Action Plan'. tried to treat patients having intract- able bone pain. A computerised Industrial Isotopic Tomographic Imaging system was developed by BARC for non- For quick diagnostic tests of TB, destructive testing of industrial antigen was genetically engineered specimen. The system utilises for production in large quantities. Its caesium-137 source, All its hard & increased availability will help in de- software were built indigenously. veloping polyclonal antibodies and standardisation of an radioimmu- noassay (RIA) procedure. 4 4 Radiation Medicine Radiation Medicine Centre (RMC) 4 5 Radiation and Isotope Tech- Pipe leakage being detected by using of BARC is the regional referal centre nology tracer technique of the World Health Organisation The Board of Radiation and Isotope cessfully used for the first time to (WHO) for South East Asia. It pro- Technology (BRIT), an industrial detect leaks in a 11 km section of a vides clinical and laboratory ser- organisation of DAE, produces and buried ethylene gas pipeline be- vices; develops radiopharmaceutic- supplies various radioisotope pro- tween Nagothane & Ghansoli in als, and does research on treatment ducts including radiochemicals, Maharashtra. of diseases using nuclear medicine. radiation sources, radiophar- The gamma scanning technique During the period of report over maceuticals and radioimmunoassay developed in BARC for on-line non- 30,000 patients were examined at (RIA) kits, carbon-14 and tritium 35 During the year radiation sources were supplied by BRIT in 2400 consignments for use in medicine, agriculture, industry and research.

4.5.2. Radiation Sources A total of 12 peta Becquerel (330 Kilo Curie) of radiation sources were supplied in 2400 consignments for use in medicine, agriculture, industry and research. Other supplies from BRIT included 470 tera Becquerel Thyroid imaging at Radiation Medicine Centre at BARC (12,800 Curies) of iridium-192 radiography sources, 10,001) Curies labelled compounds, labelled Curie) of reactor produced radioiso- of cobalt-60 for treatment of cancers biomolecules, gamma radiography topes were processed lor supply and and integral source units of high in- and irradiation equipment to users in formulation of radiopharmaceuticals. tense cobalt 60 sources for gamma India and abroad. Following work Labelled agrochemicals were also irradiators, and iridium-192 wire and was carried out by BRIT during the supplied for use in agricultural re- caesium-137 after-loading devices year: search. Light sources and self- for use in brachy-therapy. luminous compound were also sup- 4.5.1. Radiochemicals plied for illumination of instrument di- About 58 tera Becquerel (1500 als and other devices.

SALE VALUE OF RADKHSOTOPE RADtOISOTOPES AND IRRADIATION SERVICES PRODUCTS SUPPLIED BY BfUT FROM BRIT IN ThE YEAR 1903

RESEARCH & AGRICULTURE (23.4%)

36 BRIT supplied 55,000 consignments Jonaki laboratory at Hyderabad of various radiopharmaceuticals for produced phosphorus-32 labelled use in nuclear medicine enabling an nucleotides on regular basis, meeting estimated 6.5 lakhs patient the indigenous requirement of the investigations. biomolecules.

Radiopharmaceutical Laboratory at Vashi

4.5.3. Radiopharmaceuticals of materials, used in the production ot TSH, F3H & prolactin is being taken radiopharmaceuficais were tested by up in collaboration with the Indian BRIT supplied 55,000 consign- the Quality Control Group of BRIT. Institute of Science, Bangalore. ments of various radiopharmaceutic- als for use in nuclear medicine enabl- Further clinical evaluation of tecn- 4 5.4 Labelled Compounds ing an estimated 6.5 iakhs patient netium-99m ECD for brain imaging investigations. The regional centres \ as carried out Over 2500 consignments of car- at Bangalore and Delhi regularly pro- bon-14 & tritium labelled compounds cessed ready-to-use technetium-99m Development work for the prepara- and over 2000 consignments of phos- radiopharmaceuticals for use in local tion of technetium-99m ethylene phorus-32 & sulphur-35 labelled nuclear medicine centres. The cen- dicystiene (Tc-EC) was completed biomolecules were supplied. The tres at Dibrugarh and Bangalore and clinical trials planned. The pre- Jonaki laboratory at Hyderabad pro- offered radioimmunoassay (RIA) ser- paration of iodine-131 labelled MIBG duced phosphorus-32 labelled nuc- vices to local hosptials. Ten lots of was standardised and further work for leotides on regular basis, meeting gallium-67 citrate injection proces- obtaining approval of Radiophar- the indigenous requirement of the sed at VECC, Calcutta were supplied maceutical Committee will be under- biomolecules Regular production for use in Regional Radiation Medi- taken by BRIT soon. The production and supply of sulphur-35 methionine, cine Centre, Calcutta. A wide variety of monoclonal antibodies for human an important biomolecule, continued.

37 Radiation Sterilization Radioisotope Equipment

Technetium-99m generators

The method for the preparation of sul- the increasing demand. Familiarisa- 4.5.7 Sale of Radioisotopes phur-35 labelled L-cysteine was also tion programme was arranged for in- A total of 71,000 consignments of standardised. Custom-synthesis of dustrial personnel in the safe opera- radioisotopes valued at approx. some important products for use in tion of the newly introduced Roli Rs. 11.70 crore were supplied for use bio-medical research was under- cameras. in medicine, agriculture, industry and taken by BRIT. One Gamma Chamber unit was ex- research, registering 34% increase ported to Indonesia and another unit over the corresponding figure of the 4 5.5 Radiation Sterilization was replenished with cobalt-60 previous year. Radioisotope products The radiation sterilization services source for use in Nagpur University. and equipment valued at Rs.55 lakh offered by the Isomed plant at Trom- A multipurpose gamma irradiator was were exported to countries such as bay were utilised by manufacturers of set up by BARC at the Defence Bangladesh, Cyprus, France, Ghana, medical products. About 8200 cubic Laboratory, Jodhpur. Indonesia, Syria, Turkey and Viet- metres (95,500 cartons) of medical Isomed plant at Trombay in service of medical industry products were sterilized at the plant. The revenue earned by the plant on account of irradiation and other ser- vices increased by 36% during the year. About 100 Kilo Curie cobalt-60 source was added to the source frame of the Isomed Plant to increase its processing capacity. A total of 1.6 million radiation indicator buttons de- veloped in-house were supplied to users of Isomed plant for identifica- tion of irradiated products. Biological indicators and ceric-cerous dose- meters were also supplied to various users. Technical assistance was pro- vided to the irradiation plant Rashmi at the Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, Bangalore for preventive maintenance work.

4.5.6 Equipment for handling Radioisotopes Thirty one remote cable operated cameras housing iridium-192 sources were supplied by BRIT to industrial users for non-destructive testing. Efforts are under way to fabri- cate these cameras in bulk to meet 38

One variety of blackgram and two varieties of mustard developed at BARC were notified by the Ministry of Agriculture for commercial cultivation.

nam. Against an IAEA order, technic- al assistance was extended to Syria for 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 of radiopharmaceuticals development. Rice variety developed at BARC using radiation.

4.5.8 New Projects and Schemes ing tissue culture, achieving im- Agriculture for commercial cultiva- provements in fertilizer utilisation and tion. The mungbean variety TARM-2, Implementation of BRIT's projects protection of plants against insect for rabi cultivation, was accepted by continued as part of the VIII Five Year pests and studies related to minimis- the Maharashtra State Seed Commit- Plan. These projects and schemes ing the harmful effect of chemical tee for release in Vidarbha region. cover areas such as extension of nuc- pesticides. During the year, the re- The large seeded groundnut variety lear medicine facilities in (I-.- ountry, search efforts of BARC met with a TG-19A was recommended for re- upgradation of facilities to.- The pro- number of successes as described lease in Konkan region by the joint duction of radiopharmaceuticals and below: AGRESCO Meeting 1993. During setting up of facilities for the produc- 1993, the seed production program- tion of radioisotope products. The 4.6.1 Crop Improvement me of Maharashtra State Seed Cor- work of construction of Radioisotope poration is expected to produce ab- Equipment Production Facility at New One variety of blackgram TAU-2 out 3100 metric tons (te) of seeds of Bombay progressed significantly. and two varieties of mustard TM2 & Trombay varieties of pulse and oil The facility is expected to be oper- TM4, were notified by the Ministry of ational soon. Under the project on Tur field Extension of Nuclear Medicine Facili- ties, financial and technical assist- ance was provided to two hospitals in the government sector for upgrading their nuclear medicine facilities. Four more institutions were identified for creating 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 Agriculture & Food Preservation The R&D efforts of BARC in the field of agriculture are directed towards the development of new varieties of crop seeds using radiation induced mutations, micro propagation of eco- nomically important crop plants us- 40 The development of photo-insensitive mutant of Sesbania rostrata by BARC is a breakthrough in green manure technology. At BARC about 10,000 plants were regenerated through tissue culture.

nodules on stem in addition to root 4.6.2 Tissue Culture nodules. The radiation mutant of Ses- At BARC about 10,000 plants were bania developed by BARC is super- regenerated through tissue culture. ior to the parent variety in phytomass Hundred tissue culture raised bana- and nitrogen yield. na plants of three varieties were

Fruit bearing banana plant grown from Irradiated and unirradiated onions. 8ARC has fully developed technology of irradiation the tissues cultured at BARC of food items. seeds. During the period of report, BARC developed Solar Dryers — a boon to farmers BARC conducted fertilizer field trials with ammonium polyphosphate (APP) under the Directorate of Rice Re- search. These trials showed that APP performed better than diammonium phosphate (DAP) as a fertilizer. Treat- ment of potato crop with spray for- mulation containing granulosis virus was found to be more effective in reducing potato tuber moth infesta- tion than the suppressive agents. Six fungal isolates capable of degrading DDD (major metabolite of DDT) were isolated at Trombay and enhanced degradation of DDD was observed by the combination of the two isolates.

The development of photo- insensitive mutant of Sesbania rostra- ta by BARC is a breakthrough in green manure technology. This green manure plant provides nitrogen fixing 41 Research and development programme was continued on the preservation and hygienisation of perishable foods in the natural form by gamma irradiation and other means.

planted at Trombay and 400-600 plants of each variety were given to the Maharashtra State Seeds Cor- poration and Gujarat State Fertilizers for multi-locational field trials. Field trials conducted at Trombay showed that tissue culture raised plants were maturing early and the fruit yields were 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 by gamma irradiation and other means. Installation of a transportable demon- stration irradiator for onion, along with source container and accessor- ies was completed. A method was developed 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, pomegranate and guava by a pectolytic enzyme complex. This process has a major commercial potential.

4/6.4 Water Management The studies conducted by BARC in the detection of seepages from the dams, ground water recharges, water floor of rivers and others, using radioisotopes, has contributed to safety and prevention of loss of water

Desalination technologies have been developed at BARC which provide water for drinking and industrial use. The picture above shows 425 cubic metre per day multistage flash desalination plant of BARC

42 The research centres ot DAE are engaged in the forefront of research and technologica1 development in high-tech areas

A robot developed at BARC

and better water management. Stu- dies were also made on Groundwater recharges in Maharashtra. Gujarat and Punjab. Work on development of economi- cally viable technologies for de- salination of sea water to produce potable as well as industrial quality water is being pursued in BARC. The pilot scale multistage flash (MSF) de- salination plant of 425 cum/day capacity at Trombay, was operated. Using sea water feed, the plant pro- duced potable water. A ship borne desalination plant of capacity 30 met- ric tons/day, using multistage flash process was also designed and set up. Its performance was also demon- strated. Based on the MSF technolo- gy, engineering design of plant of larger capacity was finalised for set- ting up in a water scarce region in the country.

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 used Remote handling operations in hot cells for cutting a defective channel in NAPS-I Hightechnoiogy The research centres of DAE are engaged in the forefront of research and technological development in high-tech areas such as lasers, plas- ma, sophisticated instruments, com- puters, magneto-hydrodynamics and new materials. A number of signifi- cant achievements were made in all these areas.

4.7.1 Remote Handling & Robotics Research and development prog- rammes of BARC continued to meet Research was conducted at Trombay and other research centres of DAE on several promising superconducting materials. Parallel processing computer Anupam has demonstrated its rapid Lysozyme. Folding pattern of the computing capability for various polypeptide chain. Model is based number-crunching scientific jobs. on a structure refined at 1.5 angstrom resolution

the needs of the nuclear energy prog- molecular structure and pressure ramme in the areas of intervention profile studies for aerodynamic ap- robotics, automation and remotisa- plications. tion, which are vital for safe opera- tions in radiation environment. The 4.7.4 Cryogenics benefits of these efforts in this front- A commercial SQUID-based mag- line field were also extended to the netometer was installed by CAT. non-nuclear sectors such as manu- facturing industries and defence. The latest achievements 'in robotics in- 4.7.5 Plasma and Magneto- cluded a flexible assembly network hydrodynamics (MHD) for automated assembly of compo- Studies related to the basic pro- nents in hazardous environment, a cesses and technological applica- five axis robot for neutron tomogra- tions of plasma jet devices were con- phy and an integrated automation tinued during this period. A single system for MOX fuel fabrication. wire transferred metal spray plasma torch was developed and operated. Trial coatings of molybdenum on 4.7.2 Superconductors different substrates were done. A Research was conducted at Trom- plasma melting torch, currently under bay and other research centres of development, was operated at 75 kW DAE on several promising supercon- power level. Plasma sprayed bio- ducting materials. ceramic coatings were also pre- pared.

A bismuth monolayer cuprate su- The liquid metal magneto- perconductor with a superconducting hydrodynamic system was operated transition temperature of 70 Kelvin and valuable data generated on the was synthesised at Trombay. A new operating characteristics of various series of superconducting cuprates subsystems. incorporating double fluorite slab Superconducting wire drawn at 8ARC was also synthesised and a max- imum superconducting transition 4.7.3 Parallel Processing temperature of 30 Kelvin was An 8-node parallel processing sys- obtained. tem capable of 52m FLOPS speed High phase purity crystals of high was upgraded to 24 nodes with thrice temperature superconductors (HTSC) the speed. This was about 5.6 times were grown. Superconducting films faster than IBM RS 6000/560 system of YBa2 Cu3 Ox were also grown. and would be very useful in tackling Fundamental investigations related complex computations as in the area to the deposition behaviour of the in- of fluid dynamics. The parallel pro- dividual constituents of the HTSC cessing system will be marketed by materials, were conducted. A novel ECIL under the brand name Anupam*. circuit for automatic pulse measure- Anupam has demonstrated its rapid ment of current-voltage characteris- computing capability for various tics and critical current of supercon- number-crunching scientific jobs Plasma simulation ductors was developed. such as computer simulation of 44 An image processing package was developed by BARC for building 3-dimensional images. A thermal ionisation mass spectrometer with a large analyser was developed for the isotopic analysis of nuclear fuel materials.

4.7.6 Other Areas An image processing package was developed by BARC for building 3- dimensional images. A multitranspu- ter based CAMAC data acquisition system was developed and installed. Catalyst based long life,sealed-off, carbon dioxide laser developed at BARC A thermal ionisation mass spectro- meter with a large analyser was de- veloped for the isotopic analysis of nuclear fuel materials. A laser based Resonance lonisation Mass Spectro- meter for detecting atoms and mole- cules at extremely low concentrations was also designed and fabricated at Trombay. It was possible to detect sodium down to the level of 100 atoms with this system. Mixed oxide crystals of bismuth and germanium (BGO) upto 70 mm length were successfully grown. This has potential use in medical electro- nics. Boron coated ion chamber was also developed for space critical nuclear applications.

Several major design improve- ments were made on the boron car- bide production furnace to enhance A PC interfaced CAMAC crate controller developed at BARC its operational efficiency as well as Bismuth Germanate crystals developed in BARC the quality and yield of the carbide powder. Beryllium mirror substrate was pro- duced for application in the INSAT 2 VHRR project of space programme.

4 8 Accelerator Programme

4.8.1 Variable Energy Cyclotron The Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre (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 Work connected with the conversion of the existing Van-de-Graaff accelerator at Trombay into a 7 million volt folded tandem ion accelerator (FOTIA) reached completion. Dhniva fuelling machine bellow indigenously developed at Trombay

radioisotopes fcr pharmaceutical and cyclotron, reached the initial phase of diagnostic purposes. It runs a Re- construction. gional Radiation Medicine Centre in 4.8.2 Pelletron

Nd-Yag laser rods developed in BARC The 14 million volt pelletron accelerator, set-up at TIFR continued to operate efficiently, serving as a tool for research in nuclear physics, and providing a variety of heavy ion beams ranging from lithium to scan- dium. Several experiments made use of the bunched beam from this faci' ity. During the year, the beam trans- mission through the machine was further improved. Fabrication of a cryostat for mounting four quarter wave resonators and its vacuum test- ing was completed. Fabrication of the two resonators was also completed.

4.8.3 Van-de-Graaff Accelerator Work connected with the conver- sion of the existing Van-de-Graaff accelerator at Trombay into a 7 mil- lion volt folded tandem ion accelera- tor (FOTIA) is reached completion. collaboration with a Cancer Centre Calcutta. The Ce.itre is also collabor- ating with laboratories abroad in fron- tier areas of research. The Centre operates the largest accelerator in the country and has been producing proton, deutron and alpha particle beams for users from various insti- tutes. During the year, routine production of radioisotopes gallium-67 was streamlined. A second gamma camera was installed at the Regional Radiation Medicine Centre to cater to the diagnostic needs of the cancer patients of the eastern region. A plan- ned replacement and updating of va- rious sub-systems of the cyclotron is under way. The superconducting Vacuum hot pressed beryllium block 200mm dia prepared in BARC 46 T SARC n'irj CA ?.- laser

Microtron Magnet fabricated at CAT, Indore

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

Miscellenous The 12 MeV microtron, for use as a medical machine, was also made ready with all its subsystems by CAT. A triode electron gun using grid puls- ing technique was also developed by CAT for use in industrial Linacs and injectors. A computer network CAT- NET was implemented to strengthen communications.

4 9 Laser Programme Variable Energy Cyclotron at Calcutta. The cyclotron is a national facility BARC and CAT are pursuing laser Design calculations were taken up profile monitors for booster ring were programmes directed towards de- for the development of industrial also fabricated and placed in posi- velopment of various applications of electron accelerators based on dyna- tion after their characterization tests. lasers in industry, medicine, and re- mitron and induction Linacs for va- 2MV Tendem accelerator indigenously developed and installed at the Materials rious industrial applications. Science Division, IGCAR 4.8.4 Accelerator programme at CAT The microtron for lndus-1, one of the two synchrotron radiation sources, was commissioned at CAT, Indore. Optimisation of the cavity was carried out to achieve the design current density. Assembly of the booster ring progressed and all the subsystems were tested and made ready. RF cavity for booster was fabri- cated and tested with all its subsys- tems and controls, its characteriza- tion completed, and positioned in the ring.

The magnets for the booster, dipole as well as quadrupoles, were placed in its position in the ring. Two beam 47 The Centre for Advanced Technology (CAT) has comprehensive programmes for the development of lasers especially of the high power pulses variety, accelerators, cryogenic technology and others.

12 MeV microtron made ready by CAT. The microtron is used as a medical machine search. During the year, the research and development activities related to tunable dye lasers, gas lasers and their applications were continued. An Nd-glass laser capable of generating high focal intensities is under de- velopment. This laser is useful in the study of materials subjected to shock RF cavity developed at CAT pressure in the range of several megabars. Amplifiers needed to raise the output energy of the pulse to 1 Joule are under fabrication.

A sealed-off carbon-dioxide laser, incorporating a catalytic carbon monoxide-oxygen recombiner was developed 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-13 on lab scale. The Laser Data communicator de- veloped earlier at Trombay was suc- cessfully tested. Improved model of the communicator with new receiver optics is undergoing tests for a range of more than 4km. The Centre for Advanced Technol- ogy (CAT) has comprehensive prog- rammes for the development of lasers especially of the high power pulses variety, accelerators, cryogenic tech- nology and others. The centre has been developing synchrotron radia- tion sources.

150MV accelerator set up at IGCAR — a unique facility in the country for obtaining energy and mass analysis of gaseous ions The production unit at CAT was set up for supply of lasers and laser based instruments to other users in the country.

Multibeam laser developed at CAT

CAT has been developing lasers for applications in industry, medicine and research sectors. During the year a compact prototype transverse flow carbon dioxide {COZ) laser of 4 KW output power with an electro-optic efficiency of 15% was developed. This input power density is compara- ble to the highest values reported so Power meters developed at CAT far for this type of laser. Three types

of Nd:YAG lasers, with different mod- 1 :-'-•. es of operation were developed.

Transversly excited sealed-off nit- rogen lasers with average power upto 3.5 m W were also developed. An excimer laser giving 30 mJ energy per pulse with 1 Hz repetition rate was developed. Low pressure opera- tion of the krypton fluoride (KrF) laser with argon as the buffer gas was also demonstrated. A copper bromide las- er with lower working temperature and higher efficiency, was designed, assembled and operated at CAT. Optimization of the laser operation is in progress. The Centre also investi- gated the optical limiting of nanosecond duration visible laser

pulses for understanding the under- lying physical mechanism. An NdPhosphate glass laser chain was developed for studies of XUV and soft x-ray generation from laser produced plasmas. The production unit at CAT was set up for supply of lasers and laser based instruments to other users in the country. Laser-Tissue Interaction Under the medical applications of lasers, studies are being conducted

Cartoon dioxide laser setup at CAT. Such lasers can be used for cutting hard materials. A seismic net work of three independent seismograph stations, •Research in Physical Sciences was set up near Gulbarga to monitor •Research in Chemical Sciences the after-shock seismic activity in the area.

at CAT on laser tissue interactions. During the year autofluorescence spectra of malignant and adjoining normal human tissue were recorded and observations made.

4.10 Research in Physical Sci- ences Research encompasses a number of areas such as nuclear physics, solid state physics, crystallography, reactor neutron physics, spectros- copy, seismology and gamma ray astronomy. Two X-ray diffraction set ups with diamond cells were coupled to a W kilowatt rotating anode. The ruby fluorescence spectrometer, used for pressure calibration, was completely automated. Using this equipment, new high pressure transitions in Ultrasonic C-scan imaging system for visualising defects in metallic samples several materials were discovered. After the devastating earthquake that struck the South-Central Mahar- ashtra, a temporary seismic net work of three independent seismograph stations, was set up near Gulbarga to monitor the after-shock seismic activ- ity in the area. A number of hardware and software were developed for the TACTIC and MYSTIQUE gamma ray astronomy ex- periments proposed to be set up, under project GRACE, at Gurushikar, Rajasthan. Contour maps of both the sites were generated after civil survey.

'• ' ' Research in Chemical Sci- ances Basic research in the field of che- mical sciences is directed towards areas such as chemical dynamics, Gamma ray computed tomographic imaging system radiation and photo-chemistry, laser 50 The indigenous laboratory facility for An image processing system was deposition o' diamond lilms became developed for various applications in functional and good crystalline biology including generation of DNA diamond deposits were obtained. sequence from sequencing out radiograms.

chemistry, interfacial phenomena, •'< ' ? Research in Life Sciences catalysis, radiation damage studies The thrust of the R&D efforts en- on organometallics, high pressure compassed fields like bio-organic studies on materials, transport prop- chemistry, plant bio-technology, erties of metal oxides and hydrogen molecular biology, radiation biology, storage materials. This is in addition food technology and enzyme en- to the synthesis of high technology gineering. Salient activities of BARC materials. Some of the major activi- in this area are as follows: ties are outlined below. An image processing system was The indigenous laboratory facility developed for various applications in for deposition of diamond films be- biology including generation of DNA came functional and good crystalline sequence from sequencing out radio- Eddy current impedance imaging of a corrosion diamond deposits were obtained. grams. Technology for the production of Studies on yield potentiation by ground radiation areas (Kerala mona- pressure sensitive adhesive was de- presoaking the groundnut and mung- zite region) and 837 new borns from veloped. This technology will be bean seeds with plant growth regula- control areas was processed for transferred to private sector for com- tors yielded encouraging results. Karyotype analysis. No significant mercial exploitation. difference in the frequency of The biological effects of life time chromosome aberrations between exposures to low levels of naturally A chemical process, with the the two groups was observed. occurring radiation were under necessary chemical formulations was study. During the year, cord blood The heterocyclic amine imrdazo- developed for the decontamination of from 932 new borns from high back- quinoline was found to be highly reactor systems. The efficacy of the process was demonstrated by the successful decontamination of the primary heat transport system of MAPS-1.

Expertise in nuclear chemistry was utilised in the calibration of the gam- ma ray spectrometer to be installed in the payload of SROSS series satellite for investigating gamma ray bursts.

A methodology was developed for the determination of hydrogen at trace levels in zircaloy samples using spark source mass spectrometry. This was successfully employed to find out the reasons for the failure of reactor fuels. Same technique was in use to determine the hydrogen con- tent in small samples scrapped from irradiated coolant channels in PHWRs. Remotely operated CNC milling & drilling machine developed by IGCAR 51 mutagenic in salmonella typhimur- ium strains TA 98 and TA 100. With metabolic activation its mutagenicity was observed.

The efficacy of synthetic pher- omone of cotton pests was estab- lished in field trials. The scale-up for the synthesis of the same pheromone was undertaken and pheromones of pests of spices and queen-bee were also synthesised.

Investigations were made on the Thyristor based chopper devised by BARC for Indian Railways. mechanism of growth inhibition of mouse fibrosarcoma by pretrans- 4.13 Technology Transfer 4. Production of Boron powder plantation local hyperthermia. Over the years, a number of tech- Besides, twelve memorandum of HIV-protease enzyme is essential nologies have been developed as understanding (MOUs) were signed for the maturation and infectivity of the spin-off of research and develop- by BARC with organisations such as the AIDS virus. In a collaborative ment carried out at the research cen- NTPC, TIFR, Indian Railways and study with the National Cancer Insti- tres of the Department. During the DRDO for transfer of technologies tute, USA, structure of HIV-protease year BARC transferred following and know-how. In addition, the con- complexed to a series of inihibitors of technologies: su'tancy services were also provided differing potencies was determined. 1. Synthesis of invert sugar syrup. to a number of agencies.Other orga- These studies have given structural 2. Manufacture of low carbon ferro nisations of DAE have also setup their data that are being used to design alloys technology transfer groups. inhibitors with better pharmaco- 3. Design & fabrication of ozone kinetic properties. generate

52 5 PUBLIC SECTOR

Seven degree decline, where ore is being hauled up 'by low profile dump truck. The Department has four public sector undertakings namely the Nuc- lear Power Corporation of India Ltd. (NPC), Uranium Corporation of India Ltd.(UCIL), Indian Rare Earths Ltd.(IRE) and Electronics Corporation of India Ltd. (ECIL). NPC, which is responsible for nuc- lear power generation, has already been discussed. Mining and proces-

Mining operations Yellow Cake UCIL took up construction of Narwapahar mine for producing 1000 tonnes of ore pei day. The expansion of Jaduguda mill, for treating uraniun ore from Narwapahar, was also taken up.

sing of uranium, thorium and rare pared with the previous year. The Company's contribution towards minerals such as ilmenite, rutile and capacity utilization of Jaduguda mine taxes was Rs. 8.53 crores. In this year others are done by UCIL and IRE, and and mill was over 86% and 87% as the Company also issued equity ECIL supports DAE'a nuclear power against about 82% for the both in the shares of Rs. 46.00 crores. The autho- programme by meeting its needs of previous year respectively. Perform- red and subscribed share capital of control & instrumentation systems. ance of Bhatin Mines also improved, to the Company now stands at ECIL also meets the needs of national Utilization of this Mine exceeded Rs. 240.00 crores and Rs. 170.17 activities such as telecommunica- 64% as compared to about 62% in crores respectively with reserves and tions, defence, civil aviation, steel & the previous year. However, produc- surplus figures at Rs. 28.02 crores. petrochemical industries, thermal tion of the by-products — copper power projects, insurance & banking concentrates and magnetites, was 5.1.2 New Projects and railways. Following is their per- slightly less than the previous year. formance profile. The uranium recovery from copper UCIL took up construction of Nar- tailings increased by over 12%. wapahar mine for producing 1000 tonnes of ore per day. The mine con- 5 1 Uranium Corporation of India During the year 1992-93 the Com- struction work progressed satisfac- Ltd. pany's income increased from torily. The expansion of Jaduguda Rs. 39.29 crores of the previous year 5.1.1. Performance mill, for treating uranium ore from to over Rs. 42.49 crores. The gross Narwapahar, was also taken up. In The Company' showed improved and net profits were Rs. 3.7 crores Jaduguda Mine the third stage of performance during 1992-93 as com- and Rs. 1.46 crores respectively. The shaft sinking made progress. The shaft is being sunk to mine ore from depths of 555 metre level to about INCOME 900 metres. The Uranium Recovery Plant, to recover uranium concentrate from copper tailings at Mosabani, was also expanded. A techno- economic feasibility report of Domiasiat Uranium Project in Megha- laya was prepared.

:") 2 Indian Rare Earths Ltd. IRE operates a Rare Earths Plant at Alwaye which processes monazite from the beach sands and two Miner- al Sands Separation Plants, one at Chavara in Kerala and the other at Manavalakurichi in Tamil Nadu which produce minerals such as ilmenite, rutile, monazite, zircon, garnet and sillimanite. The Company also oper- ates Minerals Sands Separation Plant in Orissa where ilmenite is further beneficiated by chemical process. The company also manages Thorium factory at Trombay.

54 Manvalakuruchi Plant for mining zircon sands (Tamilnadu). 5.2.1 Performance Despite adverse market condi- tions, during 1992-93 the company registered a profit of about Rs. 0.64 crores before tax. While the Southern Units made a net profit of Rs. 25.66 crores, the losses of OSCOM amounted to Rs. 25.02 crores which Magnetic Separation of Mineral Sand, Chavara (Kerala).

Research and Development work pertaining to Mineral Separation at Chavara Products of IRE are used in a number of 55 consumer goods such as paints and pig- ments. The main thrust of research & development of IRE was aimed at improvement in the working of the mineral separation plants, improvement in quality, production of individual rare earths and development of new products.

Financial Results: (Rs. in Crores) 1992-93 1991-92 Southern OSCOM Total Southern OSCOM Total Units

1. Sales Turnover & other income 73.75 20.06 93.81 72.96 15.88 88.84 2. Cost of sales 44.80 39.91 84.71 45.40 29.69 75.09 (excl. Depreciation, D.R. Exp. & provision for taxes) 3. Profit/Loss (1-2) 28.95 -19.84 9.11 27.55 -13.80 13.75 4. Net Profit/Loss 25.66 - 25.02 0.64 24.51 -23.42 1.09 5. Foreign Exchange Earnings 28.98 N 17.51 46.49 27.16 12.20 39.36 6. Production (Value) 78.71 9.68 88.39 74.82 12.66 87.48

altered the total profits. The turnover limanite and garnet, and to improve 5 3 Electronics Corporation of for the year 1993-94 is expected to be the quality of zircon in all the units. India Ltd. Rs. 104 crores, of which Rs. 51 crores Schemes were finalised to replace ECIL supports DAE's nuclear pow- would represent foreign exchange some of the dry operations by wet er programmes by meeting its needs earnings. operations. of Control & Instrumentation Systems Production besides catering to other core sec- Solvent extraction process was de- tors such as telecommunications, de- To improve the quality of ilmenite veloped for the production of ultra- fence, civil aviation, steel & petroche- at Chavara the Company is carrying pure yttrium oxide. As high grade mical industries, thermal power pro- out modification works on the existing yttrium oxide finds extensive applica- jects, insurance & banking sector plant. The capacity utilisation of the tions in artificial diamonds, phos- and railways. Mineral Sand Separation Plant at phors and superconducting mate- OSCOM is being improved by setting rials, an industrial unit on this pro- 5.3.1 Performance up additional dredge-and-wet con- cess is therefore proposed to be set centration plant. Preliminary work has up. IRE also developed solvent ex- During the year 1992-93 operations been taken up. Programmes of value traction process to recover rare of ECIL significantly improved result- added production are also underway, earths such as neodymium praseody- ing in achieving a turnaround. Pro- in the Manavalakurichi and Rare mium, lanthanum and cerium. duction of Rs. 252 crores and gross Earths Plant. income of Rs. 290 crores was 5.2.2 Future Outlook achieved registering a growth of 34% in production and 27% in gross in- Research & Development The Company is exploring possibi- come over the previous year. The The main thrust of research & de- lities of setting up joint ventures with thrust areas namely computers, com- velopment of IRE was aimed at im- foreign equity participation, primarily munications and controls continued provement in the working of the to rehabilitate OSCOM. Joint Ven- to be the major contributors. mineral separation plants, improve- tures with local participation are also ment in quality, production of indi- being explored for production of For the yeaF 1993-94, ECIL has set vidual rare earths and development value added products. During 1993- itself targets of Rs. 290 crores for pro- of new products. Studies were car- 94, the company hopes to sustain ifs duction and Rs. 300 crores for net ried out to augment production of sil- operations and improve profitability. income. These are about 20% higher 56 Efforts made by ECIL to improve the order-book position have resulted in securing about Rs. 390 crores worth of orders during the year 1993-94.

than the production of Rs.252 crores, and the net income of Rs. 249 crores achieved during 1992-93. During the year 1993-94, ECIL has supplied Rs. 29 crores worth of con- trol & instrumentation equipment to Atomic Power Projects (Kaiga-1&2, RAPP-3&4) as against Rs. 17 crores worth of supplies during 1992-93. It also continued to contribute to the Clips. core sectors such as power, oil, steel, communications and defence. A sectorwise breakup of the sup- plies during 1993-94 are given in the Table as follows: ECIL has successfully commis- sioned the curtain antenna phase-ll for AIR and developed computerised laser identity card printing systems (CLIPS) in collaboration with BARC for supply to Assam, Meghalaya and other border states. The Company has also made significant entry into the banking sector with the commis- sioning of software for total branch automation. It has taken the technical know-how from C-DoT for the MAX-L exchange (1000 lines) and is in the process of producing the first unit. Efforts made by ECIL to improve Gamma camera manufactured by ECIL the order-book position have resulted in securing about Rs. 390 crores Supplies worth of orders during the year 1993- 94. Sector Expected Executed 1993-94 1992-93 5.3.2 ECIL, realising the chal- lenges which it has to face as a pub- (in crores)- lic sector enterprise in competing Control & Instumentation 80 67 with the multinational and private (DAE and non-DAE) sector companies in the changed en- Computers & Computer Systems 90 76 vironment, is evolving its own Communication Equipment 58 53 strategies to cope-up with them. It is Strategic Electronics 5 5.5 also implementing an action plan to Components & Special Products 22 20 obtain ISO-9000 certification shortly. Industrial & Consumer Electronics 42 28 Total 297 249.5

57 6 DAE has been promoting research and development in universities and institutions for developing a broad SUPPORT TO RESEARCH base for the growth of nuclear and allied sciences, engineering and technology.

6 1 Financial Support Through the Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences (BRNS), DAE has been promoting research and de- velopment in universities and institu- tions for developing a broad base for the growth of nuclear and allied sci- ences, engineering and technology. Over the years, BRNS has grown to become one of the major research funding agencies, responsible for providing financial assistance for the research projects, fellowships such as DAE-Bombay University col- laborative scheme, Dr. K.S. Krishnan DAE Research Fellowship etc., and funding conferences and seminars organised by DAE and outside agen- cies.

During the year, BRNS recom- mended financial assistance for 188 Mirror basket for the gamma ray telescope fabrication at BARC renewal projects and 42 new re- search projects with a total expendi- During the year, the grants pro- ture of around Rs. 4 crores, and also some of the leading cancer centres in guided and financed 68 symposia/ vided by DAE to its aided institutions the country. During the year financial conferences with a budget provision are as under. assistance was granted to cancer re- search centres given below. of Rs. 50 lakhs. A sum of Rs. 35 lakhs With the objective of improving the was budgeted for the award of fel- cancer control measures in the coun- During the year 1993-94, a sum ot lowships to talented students for re- try, the Department has also been Rs. 1.74 crores was provided in the search in different disciplines in uni- providing financial assistance to budget to the National Board for versitities and institutions. The Department also provides grant to its aided institutions namely the Tata Institute of Fundamental Re- Budget Provision search (TIFR) and Tata Memorial Institution 1993-94 Centre (TMC) at Bombay, Saha Insti- (Rupees in Crores) tute of Nuclear Physics at Calcutta, Tata Instt. of Fundamental Research 73.12 and the Institute of Physics (IOP) at Tata Memorial Centre 26.95 Bubaneshwar. The Institute of Mathe- Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics 8.43 matical Sciences, Madras, Mehta Re- Institute of Physics 3.77 search Institute of Mathematics and Institute of Mathematical Sciences 2.70 Mathematical Sciences, Allahabad Mehta Research Institute 2.15 and National Board of Higher Atomic Energy Education Society 2.30 Mathematics Bombay are also sup- ported by DAE.

58 The Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) is a globally unique facility tor front-line research in radio- astronomy being set up by TIFR near Pune.

6.2.1 Giant Metrewave Radio Tele- 1. uancer Institute, Adyar, Madras Rs. 67.61 lakhs scope 2. Regional Cancer Centre, Trivandrum Rs. 20.00 lakhs The Giant Metrewave Radio Tele- 3. Kamala Nehru Memorial Hospital, Allahabad Rs. 14.73 lakhs scope (GMRT) is a globally unique 4. Borooah Cancer Institute, Guwahati Rs. 88.33 lakhs facility for front-line research in radio- astronomy being set up by TIFR near Pune. During the year, erection of 10 Higher Mathematics (NBHM), Bom- scope (GMRT) near Pune (Maharash- dishes was completed and two of bay for the development of mathema- tra) and VOICE project of TIFR, and them were fitted with electronic re- tics in the country. the Advanced Centre for Treatment, ceiver system. Preliminary astrono- Research & Education in Cancer mical observations also commenced. (ACTREC) of TMC are funded by GMRT will have 30 gigantic para- Major Projects DAE. Their progress during the bolic dishes, each of 45 metre in The Giant Metrewave Radio Tele- period of Report is as follows: diameter, capable of picking up very

;«,*—"*

An artist's view of the Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research & Education in Cancer being set up at New Bombay 59 Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bombay

faint radiowaves from distant cosmic 6 3 Tata Institute of Fundamental objects. cer, science education and popular- Research isation. The Tata Institute of Fundamental 6.2.2 ACTREC Project The School of Mathematics made Research (TIFR) remained engaged substantial contributions in various Phase I activity of the Advanced in front-line research in mathematics, fields of mathematics. Centre for Treatment, Research & physics, astronomy, computer scien- Education in Cancer (ACTREC) at ce, chemical physics and molecular In theoretical particle physics, tau New Bombay was continued. Con- biology. Research & developmental signals were proposed to detect R- struction work has commenced and works in different applied fields also parity breaking at LEP 200 experi- drawings for research centre were continued. Other works included ment at CERN. Research in mathema- finalised. epidemiological studies on oral can- tical physics included the study of 6.2.3 VOICE Project TIFR successfully completed VOICE project, conducted under the aegis of the United Nations Develop- ment Programme (UNDP) and the Government of India, through suc- cessful demonstration of speech rec- ognition and synthesis. Following are the details of re- search and development done by the aided Institutes of DAE.

A heat capacity set-up of top-loading type developed in the Solid State Physics Groi 60 Giant Metre Wave Radio Telescope being built at Narayangaon, near Pune, Maharashtra black-hole of 2- dim. In theoretical in operation at Fermilab's proton- critical current density Tc was condensed matter physics, a gener- antiproton collider. obtained. alized spin singlet pairing theory of Non-linear optics experiments on The time resolved electron spin re- superconductivity in layered high cri- four-wave mixing were performed on sonance technique was used to study tical temperature (Tc) materials was the biological molecule, bacteriorho- p-benzoquinone excitation, and con- proposed. dopsin, and an unexpectedly large formational and functional studies on Bimodal distribution of the rotation nonlinear response was discovered. a number of proteins and peptides periods of T-Tauri stars was shown to Preferential vibrational excitation in were carried out. N2(B3 Cg) was observed for the first be the natural consequence of the Steady state and transient kinetic time in ion-ion mutual neutralization interaction between dynamo- studies of the interaction of metal of N + with F- studied with the flowing generated magnetic fields of these ions with xanthine oxidase unfolded afterglow technique. stars and the accretion disks sur- mechanism of the inhibition of its ox- rounding them. A second order Lag- idoreductase activity. rangian equation for the non-linear For Superconducting LINAC Boos- evolution of collision less dark matter ter Project, the first quarter wave re- Important studies on muscle de- was derived. sonator fabricated indigenously was velopment in Drosophila were also successfully tested. conducted. Some of the genes likely to be involved in the development or Confirmation of the existence of The transport properties (electrical physiology of neural circuits' be- twin peaks in TeV gamma ray phaso- resistivity, thermopower and thermal gram and detection of a dust ring in haviour, were cloned and characte- conductivity) of (Sm1_xYx)Cu2 and the X-ray bright elliptical galaxy NGC rized. Progress was made in the char- RCu2 (R + Gd, Pr, Tb) systems were 3607 were notable activities. acterization of several enhancers of studied at low temperatures which shibire, a temperature sensitive Another notable study was on the gave new insights into the complex mutation known to induce defects in individual anomalous cosmic ray magnetic properties of these com- endocytosis. events observed in the Anuradha pounds. The two tier teacher-training prog- cosmic ray experiment conducted on Superconductivity with critical ramme of the Homi Bhabha Centre for board Spacelab-3. temperature as high as 14K, was Science Education, initiated in 1990 observed in a ternary. Studies on the In a major international collabora- in collaboration with the Solapur Sci- behaviour of tiny crystallites gave tion at European Centre For Nuclear ence Centre and the Solapur Muni- useful information. Research (CERN) Geneva, TIFR sci- cipal Corporation for improvement of entists determined Z0 parameters Other researches included inves- science and mathematics education, from the L3 data. For accessing the tigation of layer InGaAs on GaAs and concluded this year. muon chamber signal in the forth- InP substrates, and a novel combina- The Basic Dental Research Unit coming LEP 200 experiment,3000 tion of technique for the measurement continued its studies on prevention of readout PC boards were assembled of relaxation. Pulsed Laser Deposi- oral cancer. Preliminary study on at TIFR. The Institute has also been tion technique was used to grow su- mouth self-examination showed that participating in the DZERO experi- perconducting thin films this technique can hefp in the early ment, an international collaboration (YBa2Cu3O7-) and a high value of detection of oral cancer. 61 SINP used beams from VEC, Calcutta and Pelletron Accelerator of Nuclear Science Centre, New Delhi in the study o! nuclear reactions and nuclear structure.

M.N.SPHR BIRTH CENTENHRY GEL 1392-1933 6 4 Saha Institute of Nuclea. Physics SflHfl INSTITUTE OF NUCLERR PHY!

6.4.1 Nuclear Physics SINP used beams from VEC, Cal- cutta and Pelletron Accelerator of Nuclear Science Centre, New Delhi in the study of nuclear reactions and nuclear structure. Some non-yrast states predicted from shell model calculations were identified and completed the band structure study in Xenon-123,124. The fusion and partial cross sections for Carbon- 12 + Carbon-14 reaction were Mean Nad Saha Birth Centenary Celebration at SINP, Calcutta obtained using tandem accelerator of the McMaster University. Studies also related to decay of studied and the reaction Carbon- Experimental activities related to Mercury-197, precision measurement 12(p,pi)Carbon-13 was treated relati- the studies of Antimony-117,119 nuc- of the intensity of KX-rays for ele- vistically. Weak interaction rates for lei, understanding the mechanism of ments with Z=79-82, and determina nuclei with A60 and neutrino absorp- Lithium-6 projectile break-up reac- tion of mixing ratios of the 177 and tion cross-sections for gallium-71 tion, studies of the three nucleon 198 keV transitions Thulium-169 from were computed. The strength dis- transfer reaction Beryllium- a new time differential perturbed tribution of isovector M1 excitation of 9(alpha,proton)Boron-12 to investi- angular correlation experiment. Si-28 was also studied. gate the high lying states of Boron-12 and the effect of coulomb-nuclear in- Theoretical studies on the occurr- In the field of High Energy and terference in the scattering of Silicon- ence of identical bands and satura- General Physics, work done during 28 by Silicon-28; and investigation of tion of B(E2) values and energy states the year included investigation of the the role of neutron-skin in nucleon of even-even rare earth and actinide baryon spectrum in a chiral confining and cluster-projectile induced reac- nuclei reproduced by a simple para- model, studies relating to the transi- tions. Heavy ion induced fission was metrisation of the effective number of tion of the evolution process in deep- studied. valence neutrons and protons in the ly inelastic heavy-ion collisions from major shells were completed. Micros- non-Markovian to Markovian nature, In-beam spectroscopic study of copic calculations using cranked and calculation of the fission barriers. odd-mass iodine nuclei in reactions HFB and cranked shell model formal- Also, model studies were made for induced by alpha-particles, under- isms for nuclei in the mass region bulk properties of nuclear matter. standing the band structure in zinc- A = 120-130, and the phenomenolo- 65 by in-beam gamma-ray, and life- gical model calculations for the dou- Other major developments were time measurements using Doppler- bly odd Ag and La nuclei made prog- the discovery of unexpected magne- shift techniques were other salient re- ress. tic mass in a hadronic gas of pions, search efforts. AtSINP, nuclear spec- proof of the theorem in chiral per- troscopic measurements were ex- The fragmentation of exotic nuclei turbation theory about the one-loop tended to the region of rare earth was investigated, radiative capture chiral logarithms, and the studies on nuclei. rate of protons by Nitrogen-13 was multilayer Hall systems, generalisa- 62 A computer programme was developed to investigate dose distribution of radiation in cancer patients.

tion of the Berrezin integration to the work tnereon started. Experiments on terns were investigated by the ther- case of semionic anyons, and discov- the properties of plasma from edge to mofield transfer .matrix method. ery of the deconfinement in the ano- core region were performed and sets Ground state superconducting malously regularised Schwinger of magnetic probes were used to phase diagram of narrow band sys- model were other developments. study the nature of last closed tems was studied and nature of polar- Composite coloured bosons were in- magnetic surface. Experiments on ons in small systems and in high vestigated and the top quark mass the loss of high energy ions from the critical temperature materials were was predicted in a condensate model plasma and important deductions investigated. Segregation and sur- with effective four-fermion interac- were made. The pulsed nature of the tions. tokamak discharges and the mixing face properties of transition and no- up of different informations in the out- ble metal alloys were studied theore- A quantum integrable lattice model put signals necessitated develop- tically and the results were compared was developed, Faddeev- Reshe- ment of software programmes for with experimental results. On the ex- tikhin-Takhtajan algebras and data analysis. perimental side, spin-lattice relaxa- associated Yang-Baxter equations tion studies on some Cerium-based were studied, effects of deformed On the development side, opti- intermetallic hydrides continued. algebras on the state space were in- mization of the audio-frequency dis- Mossbauer investigation of amine vestigated, semiclassical studies re- charge cleaning system was done. intercalated FePS3 revealed the lated to the geometric phase were Work on the construction and testing creation of two types of reduced carried out. Invariant curves around of the prototype slow bank system for sites. Studies were made on the periodic orbits were studied in case plasma pulse extension was carried magnetic behaviour of mixed system of 4D reversible maps. The eigen- out and design of the system for CdxFd-xPSs (x=0.2,0.5). Measure- modes of electromagnetic oscilla- SINP-Tokamak was completed. In ments of ultrasonic velocity and atte- tions in toroidal cavities with elliptic addition, developmental work was nuation coefficient in a single crystal cross-section were calculated. also carried out and a number of in- of beta-brass continued. Investiga- struments were developed. Different aspects of a biophysical tions were also made on interlayer model for the calcium action poten- Theoretical studies on one- coupling effect on superconducting tial in squid giant synapse were in- dimensional modelling of SINP- transition temperature in vestigated and exocytotic vesicle re- Tokamak discharges, and time be- Bismuth:2212 system. In microwave lease during synaptic transmission haviour of the plasma position were spectroscopy, several molecules was studied. A computer programme carried out. Studies on the non-linear were studied via their microwave was developed to investigate dynamics of coupled anharmonic rotational and vibrational spectrum. dose distribution of radiation in can- oscillators were started to investigate cer patients. the origin of magnetic field-line Study conducted related to the cur- chaos and the cause of island forma- rent density effects on the yield ratios of multiply charged ions. The surface 6.4.2 Plasma Physics tion in the magnetic surfaces of a tokamak plasma. binding energy of Yttrium, target cur- Experiments on tokamak plasma rent density effects in Aluminium- and development of its diagnostics cluster ion emission, and topog- 6,4.3 Atomic, Molecular and were carried out in SINP. Experi- raphical modifications of silver sur- Condensed Matter Physics ments with soft X-ray imaging camera face, bombarded by energetic ions at developed in-house, revealed in- In condensed matter physics, stu- oblique incidence, were studied. teresting features of sawtooth crash dies related to extended electron Study of blistering of metals by MeV times and inversion radius. Soft X-ray states and the ground states of 1-D proton beam continued. Angular de- imaging system was used to study extended, non-half- filled and the 2-D pendence of bombardment induced the plasma core temperature. Fibre Hubbard models. Quantum spin- light emission from metallic targets optic data link were designed and chain models of 1-D magnetic sys- was calculated. An experimental set- 63 During 1993, over 24,000 patients were registered in the Tata Memorial Hospital, 16,500 patients were diagnosed, about 11,500 patients were admitted and over 24,000 operations were carried out.

up was developed in the laboratory on cataractous human lenses re- 6.5 Tata Memorial Centre for studying Light Emission from vealed interesting behaviour of the The Tata Memorial Centre, com- Metallic Surfaces due to Ion Bom- crystallins of cataractous lenses. In prising the Tata Memorial Hospital bardment. Also an Electrolytic Jet studies with mammalian cells in cul- (TMH) and the Cancer Research Insti- Thinning System was fabricated for ture, various dihydrofolate reductase tute (CRI), continued its activities in investigation of gp-microstructures at gene amplified clones were isolated. the diagnosis, treatment research subsurface region. and training programmes. 6.4.6 Radiochemistry, Radiation and 6.4.4 Instrumentation Photochemistry and Spectros- 6.5.1 During 1993, over 24,000 pa- Instrumentation developed include copy tients were registered in the Tata a new phase-detector which is a Nuclear activation analysis was ex- Memorial Hospital, 16,500 patients breakthrough in the method of gener- tended to titanium for the studies of were diagnosed, about 11,500 pa- ating harmonic signals of ultrahigh the geochemistry of different rare ele- tients were admitted and over 24,000 frequency-stability and spectra- ments. Charged particle activation operations were carried out. Over purity, a very efficient method of har- using alpha-particles as projectile 15,500 histopathological examina- monic generation in VHF and UHF radioanalytical methodologies were tions and over 9,000 fine needle range of frequencies, efficient fre- developed for effective separation of aspiration cytology and over 5,50,000 quency multipliers. the elements forming the congeneric other investigations were carried out. pair. 6.4.5 Biophysics A new tissue processor with a hood The studies on the radiosensitiza- (Bavimed equipment) was installed. Emphasis was placed on the study tion of cytosine base by copper (II) The equipment has the capacity to of biomolecular interactions and ions revealed that the metal ions process 350 cassettes at a time for structure-function relationship of could act as good electron acceptor faster turnover. DNA. Supercoil-induced structural forwards the base transient radicals. The Hospital remained involved transitions of DNA under the action of Radiation chemistry of nickel com- varying ligand concentrations were with international and national clinic- plex of nitroimidazole indicated that al trials on cancer. The study on chil- theoretically investigated. The ex- the complex could be used for perimental work was focussed on the dren suffering from haematological radiosensitization of cancerous malignancies continued. Bone Mar- mode of action of anticancer drugs, tumour cells in radiotherapy. Prepa- such as mithramycin and chromomy- row Transplantation facility is a regu- ration and utilization of colloidal lar feature now. Protocol studies on cin, as well as the molecular basis of semiconductors, for the generation of recognition between T7 RNA various types of leukaemia also con- hydrogen from water, are under in- tinued. polymerase and its promoter DNA. vestigation. Studies were also under- The determination of crystal struc- taken on excited state relaxation pro- Patients from all parts of India and tures of about ten compounds having cesses involving biologically impor- also from Middle East, East Africa antitumoral, anti-inflammatory, anti- tant molecules. In membrane biolo- and South-East Asia got expert viral and enzyme inhibitory activities, gy, effect of several membrane active medical care and advice. agents on the lipid structure of mem- and the structure of psophocarpin B1, The Pharmacy Division continued branes was investigated. Also, elec- a chymotrypsin inhibitor continued. A to manufacture I.V. fluids and TPN tron microscope studies of a vibrio macromolecular graphics modelling (Total Parenteral Nutrition). program, suited for protein crystal- bacteriophage 'kappa' made prog- lographic mode building, was in- ress. The Hospital Cancer Registry of stalled. TMH submitted 15,000 cancer pa- tient-data on the network of National SINP conducted theoretical study Cancer Registry Programme of Indian on several drug molecules. Studies Council of Medical Research (ICMR). 64 Critical care unit of Tata Memorial Centre TMH was recognised as one of the training centres for cancer education and research by national and international organisations such as WHO, IAEA and others.

Computerisation of hospital in- formation system was continued. This will aid hospital management, cancer related studies and training.

The project establishing infrastruc- ture for the Dr. B. Barua Cancer Insti- tute at Guwahati, Assam, in the year 1988, was continued.

A new Radiotherapy Department has been in operation since 1992 at the Community Rural Cancer Centre, Barsi, Solapur District, Maharashtra. Rural Cancer Registry continued its work and submitted cancer data to the National Cancer Registry Prog- ramme.

6.5.2 Education & Training TMH was recognised as one of the training centres for cancer education and research by national and interna- tional organisations such as WHO, IAEA and others. It is a post- graduate teaching centre affiliated to the Uni- versity of Bombay. About 150 post- graduate students are registered here. During the year diploma courses in Cancer Nursing and a 6- month course in diagnostic cytology for cytotechnologists were con- ducted. The Hospital conducts Cancer patient being treated at Tata Memorial Centre education in Oncology for the medic- al faculty. The Department of Transfu- 6.5.3 Preventive Oncology and 6.5.4 Consultancy Assignment (NPC sion Medicine of TMH was recog- Cancer Education Project) nised as a training centre for the Di- ploma Course in Transfusion Medi- Large number of patients attended A consultancy service contract was cine. for cancer check ups. To create can- awarded to TMC by the Nuclear Pow- cer awareness amongst the public, er Corporation to carry out The Government of Maharashtra exhibition on cancer, and seminars epidemiological studies in respect of continued its association with the were organised and information was radiation occupational workers and Tata Memorial Hospital, in Cancer disseminated. TMC is gearing up for their families at atomic installation Control Programme in the State. Doc- the XVI UICC International Cancer sites. tors from district hospitals were Congress scheduled to be held at trailed in various branches. New Delhi in 1994.

65 The Cancer Research Institute (CRI) initiated programmes in molecular epidemiology of cancer of lymphoid tissues. The Institute is engaged in promotion of research in pure and applied physics and allied disciplines.

6 6 Cancer Research Institute The Cancer Research Institute (CRI) initiated programmes in molecular epidemiology of cancer of lymphoid tissues and successfully cultivated AIDS virus from Indian pa- tients. It also continued molecular characterisation of Indian HIV. The study of tobacco-related can- cers continued to be the thrust area for research at CRI. The Institute also continued studies on various aspects of human oral cancers.

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

The studies on growth factors con- ance, and immune status of patients stituted one of the areas of pursuit. In with chronic hepatitis B infection, the year the coding region was sequ- molecular lesions in Non-Hodgkin's enced. Development and character- Lymphoma and anticarcinogenic stu- isation of cell lines from oral cancer dies were other salient research acti- and normal fetal buccal mucosa, in- vities at CRI. The centre has also vestigation on the role of vitamins in devised a simple reproducible preventing oral cancers, studies on method for the production of the mechanisms of multidrug resist- podophyllotoxin, an anticancer drug. Research also included studies on neurotrophic factor, human neurob- lastoma cell line and characterisation of the two proteins secreted by Epithelial cell line developed from human tumour cells. foetal buccal mucosa The Institute is in the process of The technology for separation and building up a facility for human gene identification of bone marrow stem therapy. cells wa"s earlier developed at CRI. The Institute now plans to establish a ICRC anti-leprosy vaccine, de- haemopoietic stem cell bank. The veloped at the Institute, was given to studies carried out at the Insitute re- 36,000 volunteers at Solapur, Latur vealed useful information about and Osmanabad districts in Mahar- leukaemia blast cells which could ashtra. possibly be utilised in purging The institute continued with training leukaemic cells from patients bone Epithelial cells of the cell line snowing and academic activities and marrow. cytokeratin network in the cytoplasm arranged seminars and symposia. 66 6.7 Institute of Physics Bhubaneswar Founded in 1972 by the Govern- ment of Orissa, the Institute of Phy- sics (IOP), Bhubaneswar became an aided institute of the Department of Atomic Energy on March 25, 1985. The Institute is engaged in promo- tion of research in pure and applied physics and allied disciplines. The research work carried out in the insti- tute has resulted in bringing out more than 1500 research papers so far. During 1993-94, IOP carried out re- search in several frontier areas of physics. The research activities at the Institute are broadly grouped into theoretical and experimental phy- sics. About 90 papers were pub- lished and more than forty presenta- Institute of Physics tions were made. has collaborations with leading 6 8 Other Aided Institutes laboratories and universities abroad The Ion Beam Facility of the Insti- The other aided institutes of the and joined the WA98 High Energy tute was extensively used for diverse Department are the Institute of Mathe- Nuclear Collision experimental prog- investigations. There was also in- matical Sciences, Madras and the ramme in CERN, Geneva, Switzer- crease in the theoretical investiga- Mehta Research Institute of land. Its collaborations with DESY Mathematics & Mathematical Phy- tions. Synchrotron facility, Germany under sics, Allahabad. Several experimental facilities, in- Indo-German collaboration program- cluding an 18KW roating X-ray me made good progress. The Insti- Generator Standing Wave facility for tute also re-established its Federa- The Institute of Mathematical Sci- surface studies, were established. tion status with International Centre ences carried out research in ohy- The High Temperature Superconduc- for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy. sics, mathematics and computer sci- tivity Experimental Programme under ence. Apart from pursuing academic the National Superconductivity Prog- IOP continued its visiting scientists activities, various seminars and col- ramme progressed well and small programme and its faculty members loquia were also held in the Institute. laboratory for thin semiconductor participated in national and interna- films was set up. tional symposia/conferences. Winter The Mehta Research Institute re- schools on frontier areas of physics mained engaged in fundamental re- Interaction with universities and were also organised. search in various fields of Mathema- colleges, and collaborations with Upgradation of the laboratory, tics and Theoretical Physics and con- several institutes of international and computing and library facilities was tributed research papers for publica- national repute were continued. IOP carried out. tion

67 7 SERVICES

7.1. Purchase & Stores The Central Stores Unit at Trombay The programme of computerisation The Directorate of Purchase (DPS) met the user requirements of stores of purchase functions continued and and Stores handles this activity. by servicing an inventory of 1,45,000 management information system was items. A total of 3,70,000 items were upgraded. The Directorate continued to pro- received and issued. Also, central vide support and service in materials provisioning services were rendered 7.2 Construction and Services management functions to all the Units to effect economy in purchase. The of DAE. During the year 1993, 16,000 The Construction & Services Group stores attached to different units out- purchase requisitions were proces- (C&SG) operates through its two side Bombay extended materials sed by DPS, and about 12,000 purch- wings namely the Civil Engineering management support to the serving ase orders were placed for a total Division (CED) which is responsible units. value of over about Rs.100 crores. for construction, and the Engineering Services Division (ESD) which main- tains buildings and connected ser- vices. VALUE-WISE DISTRIBUTION ORDERS IN VALUE RANGES During the year, ESD maintained over 7,600 flats and buildings of DAE and related services. 100 The details of major construction works handled by CED are shown in P table on next page are as follows. E 80 R 7 3 Estate Management and Ser- vices C E 60 The Directorate of Estate Manage- ment (DEM) is responsible for the N allotment of residential flats to DAE T employees and its units in Bombay. A 40 During 1993, over 650 flats were G alloted. DEM is also responsible for E the security of the housing colonies of 20 the Department in Bombay, and en- sures proper functioning of services for employees. At Kalpakkam, the General Series Organisation (GSO) manages DAE 5001-1.0 LAKH 1-3 LAKH > 3 LAKH estate and services. During the year, it completed construction of over 90 VALUE RANGE additional quarters.

H NUMBER OF ORDERS VALUE

ORDERS OF VALUE < 5000 EXCi UDED

68 • y< No. Project " -vh^k^k^^ ',\''" ''. -' * ?l«9ri<4 in - '''' ' NuwWofk ,-frtflre$s; „ - Undertaken 1. Trombay Township Flats: 696 (II-BAIII-C of VH Plan) 48(V-EofWPlao) , a) 120 (IV-O) Project 104 {11-B add. work of VII Plan) b) 128 (EA) School at Mandate 352 (H-B of VIII Plan) Security Complex 2 TIFR, Bombay Flats. 12 (V-E) 40 (EA) Tendering Stage Residences 88 (H-B & Hl-C) 3. TMC, Bombay — Plannmg & (Hospital Complex, Designing New Bombay) in progress 4 AMD-Tata Nagar, Flats: 24 (Il-B, Jll-C) Flats 128 Flats Bihar Lab Building (nearing completion) 5 GMRT, Pune — Flats: 14(H-B, III-C&IV-D) 6 VECC, Calcutta Extn.of Cancer Centre Coord and Liaison office 7 SINP, Calcutta Hostel Building 8 IOP, Bhubaneswar Hot Lab and Workshop Flats • 24 Liurary 9. College of Catering College Construction of Applied Technology Training Centre for Inst. of Hotel Management and Catering Technology 10. AERB, Bombay AERB Complex 11. IRE, Bombay IRE Office Complex (Planning Work) 12. DTE. of Rad. Engineering details Protection, Complex completed Tender Action in Progress. 13. BRIT, New Bombay Workshop Building 14. NFAT & CC, Pune Lab.Building 15. BBCI, Guwahati Hospital Planning taken up

69 8 DAE which has achieved a compre- hensive development in nuclear tech- nology for many years now, is now in a OTHER ACTIVITIES position to offer technology and equip- ment to other countries on commercial basis.

8 1 International Relations and ment to some of the developing coun- 8 2 Human Resources Collaborations tries. Development India continued to offer training fel- DAE has been sharing with other Human resource development lowships, scientific visits etc. and countries the indigenous expertise programme of the Department com- make available the services of its sci- developed over the last four de- prises training, seminars, sysmposia, entists for expert assignments both cades, in the field of peaceful uses of and workshops. through IAEA and to the countries atomic energy. The expertise avail- with which we have bilateral agree- To meet the ever evolving tech- able in BARC in a number of fields ments for cooperation in the field of nological and managerial needs of and specialised areas was sought by peaceful uses of atomic energy. the Department, DAE organisations international agencies such as IAEA. such as BARC, NPCIL and others conduct advanced training program- About 280 experts participated in A number of units of the Depart- mes in nuclear science and en- international symposia, workshops ment such as the Bhabha Atomic Re- gineering, and related areas. A num- and conferences held under the au- search Centre, Centre for Advanced ber of courses are also conducted in spices of various UN and other inter- Technology, Variable Energy Cyclot- the fields of management, finance national organisations as also the ron Centre and Tata Institute of Fun- IAEA. Over 30 foreign scientists were damental Research, continued their and others. trained in India under IAEA fel- interaction with international re- During the year, the Training lowships programme and bilateral search organisations notably the School of BARC and the Nuclear agreements signed between Govern- European Centre for Nuclear Re- Training Centre at Kota continued ment of India and other countries search. VECC continued its col- their training programmes. The 37th India also hosted seven IAEA meet- laborative research in high energy course of BARC Training School was ings, symposia and ten other interna- physics under the auspices of CERN completed and the second orienta- tional meetings during 1993-94. Lab by fabricating and supplying the tion course for post graduate en- photon multiplicity detector. TIFR's gineers commenced. The Chairman, Atomic Energy involvement related to LEP- 200 ex- Commission (AEC) led the Indian de- periment at CERN. The Institute of Training courses were conducted legation to the 37th Regular Session Physics had collaborations with lead- by BARC in the areas of radiation of the IAEA General Conference held ing laboratories and universities medicine and radiation physics, in Vienna, Austria in September 1993. abroad and joined the WA98 High radioimmunoassay, industrial Energy Nuclear Collision ex- Bilateral discussions were held with radiography and safety. To meet the perimental programme in CERN. Its a number of other delegations partici- managerial needs DAE Secretariat collaborations with DESY, Germany pating in the Conference. India con- also conducted short term refresher and synchrotron facility under the tinued to be the member of the Board courses for different categories of Indo-German collaboration program- of Governors of IAEA. officials. me, made good progress. The Insti- tute also re-established its federation BARC has been recognised as a 8.1.1 Collaborations status with International Centre for centre for postgraduate studies in va- DAE which has achieved a com- Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy. rious disciplines by 30 Indian Univer- prehensive development in nuclear sities. So far, the status of university technology for many years now, is During the year, the services of 14 teachers has been accorded to over now in a position to offer technology BARC scientists were also placed at 160 scientists of BARC. Under the and equipment to other countries on the disposal of the International Ato- collaborative schemes between commercial basis. A beginning has mic Energy Agency for expert assign- BARC and the University of Bombay, already been made to supply equip- ments in various countries. 50 scientists earned doctorate and

70 post-graduate degrees. Scientists were also granted leave for proceed- ing abroad for post-doctoral research work.

Other activities included setting up of vocational training Centre by UCIL for workers education.

Public Awareness To promote awareness amongst public about the friendly atom, the Department continued information dissemination. Exhibitions were organised for students and public at large, video films were produced and screened, and essays and quiz con- tests were organised for students. A number of publications for public in- formation on various aspects of nuc- A view of permanent exhibition in DAE premises Bombay lear energy were brought out by DAE and its organisations. periodic reports to the Prime Minister, A series of scientific seminars/talks the Atomic Energy Commission were organised in Hindi by various Poster Session of the IAEA Sympo- (AEC) and Chairman, AEC. It pre- units of DAE. Some of the topics co- sium on advanced nuclear power pares the Annual Action Plan of the vered were as follows: system at Seoul, South Korea, Inter- department, reviews the performance national Food Convention Exhibition of PSUs under the department and 1. Technical Achievements of Atomic at Mysore, Kisan Mela in Pune, Ex- serves as the nodal point for interac- Energy Programme. hibition on Nuclear Medicine in De- tion with the Department of Program- 2. High Speed Computer - an Integral lhi, and Indian Science Congress Ex- me Implementation. The Group also part of Modern Science. hibition at Jaipur were the salient par- provides computer services to the 3. Nuclear Energy and Automation. ticipations. Public response to the ex- Secretariat. It has installed a PC 4. Safety Provisions in the design of hibitions was also encouraging. based Computer Network in the Sec- 220MW Atomic Power Stations and retariat and is in the process of im- their utility. o •"» Management Services plementing a system of Compute- 5. Ultra High Vacuum Science, Tech- rised Administrative system. nology and Applications I ne Management Services Group 6. Telecom: Unlimited Possibilities. (MSG) of the Department of Atomic H '. Use of Hindi 7. Differenct Dimensions of Atomic Energy provides support to the to Energy Programme. management at the department's The work of the Department is Secretariat in areas of information mainly scientific and technical in na- Progress was made in implementa- management, analysis and reporting. ture. To promote use of Hindi in tech- tion of the Official Language Policy of It maintains a database of perform- nical matters, the Department and its the Union in other areas also in the ance of various operating units and Units/PSUs organised conferences, Department and its Units and Public projects under construction within the seminars and talks in Hindi on va- Sector Undertakings. In-service train- department. The Group generates rious scientific issues. ing in Hindi language, Hindi typewrit- 71 ing and stenography was imparted to 8 7 Security and Physical award of the Government of India. In 422 officials, 63 typists and 44 ste- Protection Bombay schools value based educa- nographers respectively. 510 offi- tion was introduced. cials, 66 typists and 51 stenog- Security of DAE installations is raphers are undergoing training in given prime importance and is moni- tored by high level committees in 8.8.2 Medical Services Hindi language, Hindi typing and different tiers. Based on review made steongraphy respectively. Eighteen The central health service scheme during the year, security of the in- Devanagari typewriters were purch- covered about 74,000 beneficiaries. stallations was upgraded. Various ased during the year raising the total Under the scheme over 5 lakh pa- systems involving high technology number of such typewriters to 243. In tients were treated and family welfare were installed depending upon the addition 7 bilingual electronic type- programme was continued. The con- vital nature of the individual installa- writers were also purchased raising struction of BARC hospital annexe tion. The indigenous content in secur- also commenced. the total number of such typewriters ity systems and instrumentation was to 91. The Department purchased 25 also progressively increased. bilingual softwares for PCs raising 8.8.3 Social Welfare their number to 54. The number of 8 8 Welfare Measures During the year, social welfare Bilingual Telex Machines were also programmes for the benefit of the loc- raised to 8. All gazette notifications, 8.8.1 Education al people of the villages around the cabinet notes, reports and other plant sites, were continued by the documents sumbitted in bilingual The Atomic Energy Educational DAE organisations. IRE contributed Society, an aided organisation of form to various Committees of Parlia- Rs.6.54 lakhs by way of donations to DAE, has been providing education ment etc. various educational, social and char- for employees of the Department. The itable courses. UCIL supplied pot- The OLICs of BARC.CAT and some Society has today 27 schools at 13 able water in the adjoining area of the of the industrial units and PSUs of centres with about 27,000 students works and installed hand pumps. DAE brought out their house maga- on their rolls. zines. Also, UCIL and ECIL have been giv- The AEES schools have earned ing suppport to ancillary and small Grants were given to various OLICs name in imparting quality education. scale units situated in the their ad- of the Department and its units. Hindi During the year of report, the Society joining areas thereby contributing to Week/Fortnights were organised. A maintained an all round growth in generation of employment. Hindi Month was also celebrated by academics and allied areas. Classes the Bombay located Units of DAE. X and XII results scores crossed pass Under the Incentive Scheme for percentages of 92%. In 1993 ex- writing original notes and drafts in aminations, students got distinctions, won merit awards and a number of Hindi, 58 employees were awarded. students got admission in profession- Hindi workshop for training em- al colleges. A student of Atomic Ener- ployees in writing notes and drafts in gy Junior College, Bombay secured a Hindi was organised at DAE and a silver medal at the International number of its units. Maths Olympic.

The emphasis given by the AEES 8 6 Industrial Relations on the over all development of chil- During the year the industrial rela- dren has resulted in two children win- tions remained satisfactory. ning national music scholarship

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 for multidisciplinary 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 and producing radioisotopes for use in agriculture, medicine, industry and research. A 5.5 MeV Van-de-Graaff accelerator is available for experimental research in physics. In addition to the various laboratories for carrying out research in physics, chemistry, biology, agriculture, medicine, food technology, nuclear engineering, isotope technology, metallurgy, etc., the Centre operates Uranium Metal Plant, Uranium Fuel Fabrication Plant, Fuel Reprocessing Plant and Mixed Oxide Fuel Fabrication Plant. It has set up a Beryllium Plant at Vashi. Fuel Reprocessing Plant (PREFRE) and a Nuclear Waste Immobilization Plant at Tarapur are also parts of BARC. The Radiation Medicine Centre of BARC at Bombay is regional reference centre of the World Health Organisation. The Centre 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 underground nuclear explosions. The Nuclear Research Laboratory at Srinagar and the High Altitude Research Laboratory at Gulmarg 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 fast breeder reactor (FBR) technology. Here the major facility is the Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR) which attained criticality 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 high technology fields such as accelerators, lasers, cryogenics and other areas of advance research. CAT is setting up Synchrotron 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 reactor materials. 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 geological surveys, exploration, prospecting and development of various mineral resources needed for the nuclear power programme. 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 of various plants for conversion of yellow cake into ceramic grade natural uranium oxide, imported hexafluoride into enriched uranium oxide, zircon sand to zircaloy components and uranium dioxide to sintered pellets 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 also manufactures 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, the plant has been producing heavy water since 1962. Heavy Water Plant, Baroda: Based on the monothermal ammonia- hydrogen exchange process, the plant is linked 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, the plant 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 the synthesis gas stream of ammonia plant of the Fertilizer Corporation of India. It is designed to produce 60 tonnes of heavy 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 has annual production capacity of 185 tonnes. Heavy Water Plant, Hazira: This 110 tonnes per annum heavy water plant is based on monothermal ammonia hydrogen 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. BRIT operates a radiation sterilization plant Isomed at Trombay, and radiopharmaceutical laboratories at New Bombay and bimolecules production facilities Jonaki at Hyderabad in addition to the regional centres for radiopharmaceuticals 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 power plants. It is presently operating the atomic power stations at Tarapur, Rawatbhata, Kalpakkam, Narora, and Kakrapar (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 type reactors each of 160 MWe capacity, fuelled by enriched uranium. The Station supplies electricity to Maharashtra and Gujarat.

3.1.2 Rajasthan Atomic Power Station Located at Rawatbhata, Rajasthan, the station has two natural uranium fuelled pressurised heavy water reactors each 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 pressurised heavy 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, feeding electricity 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 water reactors 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.

iJMPi;-ii Corpoi:;i;on oi incii,' ;. tc! Formed in October 1967, UCIL is responsible for mining and milling of uranium ore. It is operating uranium mines at Jaduguda and Bhatin and 1000 tonnes per day uranium mill at Jaduguda. The Corporation has set up uranium recovery plants at Surda, Rakha and Mosaboni. A by-product recovery plant of UCIL recovers minerals such as copper, magnetite and molybdenum.

74 ; : Indian Rare Earths Liu. Functioning since 1950, IRE is a Government company. The Company has two mineral sands separation plants at Manavalakurichi and Chavara and a Rare Earths Plant at Alwaye. IRE has set up a project at Chhatrapur, Orissa known as Orissa Sands Complex (OSCOM), for production ot various minerals and value added products. The Company 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 components developed at BARC. The Corporation has pioneered the production of a varied range of sophisticated electronic systems, instruments and components, based primarily on indigenous technology. The Company is a leading producer in computers, control instrumentation and other sophisticated electronic systems.

•'• Aided institutions

: 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 as astronomy and astrophysics, chemical physics, molecular biology, solid state physics, solid state electronics and computer science. Other facilities of the Institute are: the Balloon Facility at Hyderabad, the Radio Astronomy Centre at Ootacamund, the National Image Processing Facility for Astronomy at Ootacamund and 500 MHz FT NMR National Facility at "HFR, Bombay. The Institute in addition manages activities of the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science 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 Research Institute. The Centre is the foremost in the country in education, comprehensive care of cancer patients and in cancer 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 in the fields of experimental and theoretical nuclear physics, solid state atomic and molecular physics, plasma physics, high energy physics, crystallography, molecular biology, biophysics, nuclear chemistry and instrumentation.

institute of Physics Bhubaneswar Incepted in 1974, the Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar became the fully aided institute of DAE. The Institute provides facilities in advanced research in the fields of theoretical solid state, nuclear and high energy physics and in the field of experimental solid state physics. It has a 3 MV tandem pelletron accelerator for experimental research 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 and Atomic 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 Atomic Energy Act 1962. The Board has a full-time Chairman, a full-time Member- Secretary and three other part time members. The Board is responsible to the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board has the powers to lay down safety standards 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 75 *^S" j1^'*: "£.