New INDIGO Logo
EU Flag FP7 Logo

Department of Atomic Energy

 Info on India →

 

The Indian Atomic Energy Commission was first set up in August 1948 in the then Department of Scientific Research, which was created a few months earlier in June 1948.

The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) was set up on August 3, 1954 under the direct charge of the Prime Minister through a Presidential Order. Subsequently, in accordance with a Government Resolution dated March 1, 1958, the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) was established in the Department of Atomic Energy.

DAE comprises a group of organisations five research centres, three industrial organisations, five public sector undertakings, three service organisations and DAE-aided institutions. It is assisted by various boards for promoting research in the field of nuclear and mathematical sciences. DAE SRC guides basic research conducted in institutions under the aegis of DAE.

Research Disciplines

The R&D undertaken by various institutions under DAE can be categorised into the following three areas:

  • Nuclear Power Technology India has been following a three-stage nuclear power programme. The first stage utilises pressurised heavy-water reactors with natural uranium as fuel to generate power. This stage is already in the commercial domain. The second stage involves setting up fast-breeder reactors with plutonium as fuel; the latter being obtained from spent uranium during the first stage. This stage is in the technology demonstration phase with prototypes being built for testing purposes. The third stage the development stage with efforts being made to generate power through technology based on the thorium-uranium-233 cycle. BARC is involved in the development of advanced heavy water reactor for this purpose. Research is also ongoing at various DAE institutes in the field of hydrogen energy and fusion energy.
  • Advanced Technology and their Application Research and product development is being undertaken in the key technology areas, such as reactors, accelerators, lasers, food processing, healthcare, nuclear and biotechnological tools, etc.
  • Basic Research Major Activities in the field of basic research have been undertaken in areas, such as mathematics and computational sciences, physics, biology, cancer research, materials science, synchrotrons and their utilisation and cyclotrons and their utilisation.

The Facilitation Centre for Industrial Plasma Technologies (FCIPT)

A unit of Institute of Plasma Research has commercialised a few technologies, such as plasma-teflon coating on seal and shell, plasma diagnostics system and atmospheric plasma treatment for Angora wool. RRCAT has also commercialised a few technologies, such as laser-assisted land-levelling system and compact nitrogen laser module.

DAE Research Centres

Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), http://www.barc.ernet.in/

A premier Nuclear Research Centre of India having excellent infrastructure for advance Research & Development with expertise covering the entire spectrum of Nuclear science and engineering and related area.

Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, http://www.igcar.ernet.in/

Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, http://www.cat.gov.in/

RRCAT is involved in development of a variety of laser systems and their utilization for applications in industry, medicine and research. The laser systems developed include high power CO2 lasers, flash lamp and diode laser pumped Nd lasers, semiconductor lasers, chemical lasers, excimer lasers and high energy/intensity pulsed lasers. Crystals of a variety of materials of interest to laser technology have been grown. The industrial applications being pursued include cutting, drilling, welding, surface modifications and rapid manufacturing. Various laser based instruments such as uranium analyzer, land leveler, compact N2 laser, photo-coagulator, fibre based temperature sensor, surgical CO2 laser system have been developed.

Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre, http://www.veccal.ernet.in/

The Variable Energy Cyclotron (VEC) is the main accelerator, operational at the Centre since 1980. It was indigenously built in early 70s. It has since been utilized by user-groups from all over the country. A large Superconducting Cyclotron (SCC) is being constructed to provide our nuclear physicists with a quantum jump in the accelerated particle energies for frontline experiments at per with their international counterparts. Construction of this cyclotron has resulted in enormous technological fall-out in the field of Superconducting Magnet and Cryogenics. The Centre is also constructing Radioactive Ion Beam (RIB) accelerators – highly complex and sophisticated – for most modern nuclear physics and nuclear astrophysics experiments. All the accelerators are also used for experiments in other areas of science such as condensed matter, materials, chemistry, biophysics etc.

Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration & Research, http://www.amd.gov.in/about/charter.htm

The nuclear power programme of the country is a three stage programme. The first stage of this programme is based on Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR) which is fuelled by natural uranium. The requirement of natural uranium for these reactors is met from the indigenous resources established by AMD. The second stage envisages utilization of plutonium produced and re-processed from the first stage. The third stage is based on thorium for which R&D efforts are in progress and some breakthrough has already been achieved. The requirements of thorium would be met from vast resources of the mineral - monazite (a thorium, REE phosphate).
 

DAE Aided Institutes

Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, http://www.tifr.res.in

The Tata Institute of Fundamental Research is an autonomous Institute under the umbrella of the Department of Atomic Energy of the Government of India. It performs basic research in physics, chemistry, biology, and mathematics and computer science. We have campuses in Mumbai, Pune and Bangalore and research facilities in various other places in India. We have master's and doctoral programs in our fields of work.
TIFR has 4 Research Centers (http://www.tifr.res.in/Science/tifrcentres.html):

Atomic Minerals Directorate for Exploration & Research, http://www.amd.gov.in/about/charter.htm

The nuclear power programme of the country is a three stage programme. The first stage of this programme is based on Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWR) which is fuelled by natural uranium. The requirement of natural uranium for these reactors is met from the indigenous resources established by AMD. The second stage envisages utilization of plutonium produced and re-processed from the first stage. The third stage is based on thorium for which R&D efforts are in progress and some breakthrough has already been achieved. The requirements of thorium would be met from vast resources of the mineral - monazite (a thorium, REE phosphate).

Tata Memorial Hospital, http://tmc.gov.in/

The Tata Memorial Centre is the national comprehensive cancer centre for the prevention, treatment, education and research in Cancer and is recognised as one of the leading cancer centres in this part of the world.

The Institute of Mathematical Sciences (IMSc), http://www.imsc.res.in/

The Institute of Mathematical Sciences (IMSc) is a national institute for fundamental research in frontier disciplines of the mathematical and physical sciences: Theoretical Computer Science, Mathematics, and Theoretical Physics

Facilitation Centre for Industrial Plasma Technologies, http://www.plasmaindia.com/

  • The Facilitation Centre for Industrial Plasma Technologies (FCIPT) links Industry with the Institute for Plasma Research (IPR), India. The knowledge-base in plasma sciences and associated technologies is exploited to generate advanced and non conventional plasma based technologies for material processing and environmental remediation.
  • IPR is an autonomous institution under the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India. It is exclusively devoted to basic research in plasma sciences and development of technological applications.