“Research reactors are the backbone of the Nuclear Programme…” – Dr. Homi J. Bhabha
Located in the hustling-bustling city of Mumbai, the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) is the country’s leading nuclear research facility initiated by Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha. The centre’s huge infrastructure is a perfect platform for R&D (research and development) offering an entire gamut of nuclear science, engineering and related areas….
BARC’s ideology is to use nuclear energy, basically for generation of power. The centre accomplishes all facts of nuclear power generation, from theoretical design of reactors to computerised modelling and simulation, risk analysis, development and testing of new reactor fuel materials to name a few. BARC also does research in spent fuel processing, and safe disposal of nuclear waste. Other research areas for BARC are applications for isotopes in industries, medicine, agriculture, etc. The centre also operates a number of reactors across India.
Creation of BARC
It was on 3 January1954 that the Government of India created the Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay (AEET). The idea behind creating AEET was to unite all the R&D activity for nuclear reactors and technology under the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). All scientists and engineers who were involved in various areas of reactor designing and development, instrumentation, metallurgy and material science etc., were transferred with their respective programmes from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) to AEET; with TIFR retaining its original focus for fundamental research in the sciences. After Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha’s death in 1966, the centre was renamed as the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre on 22 January 1967.
Mega Research Hub
At the Gamma Gardens, BARC conducts research in biotechnology, and has developed a number of disease resistant and high-yielding crop varieties, especially groundnuts. It also conducts research in Liquid Metal Magnetohydrodynamics for power generation.
On 4 June 2005, the centre started the Homi Bhabha National Institute with the goal of encouraging research in basic sciences. Research institutions affiliated to BARC include IGCAR (Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research), RRCAT (Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology), and VECC (Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre). Power projects that have benefited from BARC expertise but which fall under the NPCIL (Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd) are KAPP (Kakrapar Atomic Power Project), RAPP (Rajasthan Atomic Power Project), and TAPP (Tarapur Atomic Power Project).
The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in addition to its nuclear research ideology also conducts research in other state-of-the-art technology areas like accelerators, micro electron beams, materials design, supercomputers, and computer vision etc. BARC has designed and developed for its own use a series of supercomputers – ‘Anupam’ using latest technology.
-Team ScienceNow
