Monday, 11 August 2014

Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC)

The Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC) is India's premier nuclear research facility based in Trombat, Mumbai. BARC is a multi-disciplinary research center with extensive infrastructure for advanced research and development covering the entire spectrum of nuclear science, engineering and related ares. BARC was set up in the year 1954 as Atomic Energy Establishment Trombay (AEET) with Dr. Homi J Bhabha its first director. It was established to consolidate all the research and development activity for nuclear reactors and technology under the Atomic Energy Commission.

After death of Dr. Homi Bhabha in 1966, the center was renamed as the Bhabha Atomic Research Center on 22 January 1967. All the directors of the BARC were highly qualified doctorates in their discipline and were internationally recognized for their contribution in academia, who were the crown of this prestigious research organisation.

The first reactor at BARC and affiliated power generation centers were imported from the west. India's first power reactors, installed at the Tarapur Atomic Power Station, Maharashtra ere from the United States. The primary importance of BARC is a research center. BARC also designed and built India's first Pressurized water reactor at Kalpakkam, a 80 MW land based prototype of INS Arihant's nuclear power unit, as well as Arihant's propulsion reactor.

India and United States signed an agreement to enhance nuclear corporation between the two countries, and for India to participate in an international consortium on fusion research, international Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) so there are signs that the was wants to bring India in the Nuclear Mainstream.

Power projects that have benefited form BARC expertise but which fall under the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) are Kakrapar Atomic Power Project (KAPP), Rajasthan Atomic Power Project (RAPP) and Tarapur Atomic Power Project (TAPP).

BARC is a multifaceted institution wherein the in house research findings were further translated into the developed stage and finally through successful demonstration phase is taken for deployment in the respective fields. Advanced euipments and instruments, well set laboratories, vibrant ambiance and availability of expertise from all field of science and engineering are the unique features of BARC committed in taking the nation to the new horizons of knowledge and development.

India is not a part of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), citing concerns that it unfairly favors the established nuclear powers and provides no provision for complete nuclear disarmament. Indian officials argued that India's refusal to sign the treaty stemmed from its fundamentally discriminatory character, the treaty places restrictions on the non-nuclear weapons states but does little to crub the modernization and expansion of the nuclear arsenals of the nuclear weapons states.

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