New Delhi: Sekhar Basu, who headed the Indian Nuclear Submarine Programme, has taken over as the new Atomic Energy Commission Chairman and Atomic Energy Secretary.
Basu, who headed the country’s premier nuclear research institute Bhabha Atomic Research Centre before this assignment, will have 11 months before his superannuation.
After completion of one year of BARC Training School programme in nuclear science and engineering, he joined the Reactor Engineering Division of BARC in 1975. He started his career by designing fuel for Boiling Water Reactor, which showed excellent performance.
Later he took up the responsibility of the development of nuclear submarine propulsion plant and built the land based prototype at Kalpakkam from scratch.
Since 2000, he was also responsible for the design, development, construction and operation of nuclear recycle plants at Tarapur and Kalpakkam, involving reprocessing and nuclear waste management. These plants are performing to international standards. He is pursuing the design of the Integrated Nuclear Recycle Plant, which will take this programme to a higher platform.
As the Chairman of Project Management Board, he has been responsible for the development of Indian Neutrino Observatory at Tamil Nadu and as Principal Co-ordinator, he is pursuing the development of 1 Gev Superconducting Accelerators for the Accelerator Driven System Programme.
His predecessor, Ratan Kumar Sinha, oversaw clearing of major impediments like the addressing the liability issue, clearing thorny issues in execution of Indo-US nuclear deal and signing the deal for Kudankulam units 3 and 4 with Russia.
Sinha, who completed 42 years of service, belonged to the era of nuclear scientists when the country faced the daunting task of building nuclear reactors when Canadians and other nations shunned India leaving projects like the Rajasthan Atomic Power Station (RAPS) mid-way.
Indian scientists not only completed the reactors, but also developed mastery over the Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR).