Dr. Ratan Kumar Sinha, took over as Director, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) today, 19th May, 2010 from Dr. Srikumar Banerjee, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission & Director, BARC at a simple function held in the Trombay headquarters of the BARC. Dr. R.K. Sinha, presently Director, Reactor Design & Development Group & Design, Manufacturing & Automation Group has been appointed as Director, BARC. Dr. Sinha has been guiding the programmes for new advanced reactors under design and development at BARC to utilise thorium. These include, the Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR), which produces most of its power from thorium, and has several innovative passive safety systems. The reactor has been designed to be robust against equipment malfunction, human errors and even insider’s malevolent acts. Dr. Sinha, thus, guided the development of technologies that should enable, in a large scale deployment scenario, the siting of advanced nuclear power plants close to population centers. Most of the technological innovations in the design of AHWR have been validated under his guidance, in large experimental facilities. The outgoing Director BARC, Dr. Srikumar Banerjee had joined BARC, in the year 1967 after graduating in Metallurgical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur and received Ph.D from IIT, Kharagpur while working in BARC. He is from the 11th batch of BARC Training School. Presently, Dr.Banerjee is Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, and has nearly 40 year’s research experience. He is one of the leading experts in materials science and technology in the country and has made outstanding contributions to many materials related areas, basic as well as application oriented. Dr.Banerjee is a recipient of many national and international awards and honours including coveted Padma Shri (2005). |
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