1. Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai :-
i. Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha was the first person to talk about Atomic Energy in India. He also established Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in 1945 in Mumbai.
ii. To intensify the effort to exploit nuclear energy for the benefit of the nation, Dr Bhabha established the Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay (AEET) in January 1954 for a multidisciplinary research program essential for the ambitious nuclear program of India.
iii. After the sad demise of Bhabha in 1966, AEET was renamed Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC).
Research Reactors in BARC –
1. APSARA -
i. It was the first nuclear reactor in Asia. Built on 4th August 1956.
ii. Its name was given by Jawaharlal Nehru.
iii. It was a pool type reactor of 1 MW power with a highly enriched uranium as fuel (4.5 kg) in the form of plates. Mixture of Aluminium and Uranium was used in this reactor.
iv. Apsara was permanently shut down in 2010.
v. The refurbished version of this reactor has been named as ‘Apsara-upgraded’ (Apsara-U) and also has double capacity compared to the old one.
vi. Uranium, Plutonium or Thorium can be used in Nuclear Reactors.
vii. Many developed Countries like the USA use Stage 3 Nuclear Reactors but India still uses till Stage 2.
2. CIRUS reactor -
i. 2nd nuclear reactor to be built in India.
ii. It was given to India by Canada in 1954 but was commissioned in 1960.
iii. Maximum Uranium in the World → 1. Kazakhstan, 2. Canada, 3. Australia.
iv. India has the maximum amount of Thorium in the World.
v. Its capacity was 40MW. It used heavy water (deuterium oxide D2O) supplied by the United States.
3. ZERLINA -
i. It was India's third research reactor. It was indigenously built but used U.S.-supplied heavy water (D2O) as a moderator and coolant. Uranium was used as fuel in this.
ii. The reactor burned natural uranium fuel rods to produce a nominal power output of 100 watts.The reactor was decommissioned and dismantled in 1983. It was not safe either.
4. DHRUVA was conceived in the 1970s out of the need for a research reactor with higher neutron flux for research in basic sciences in addition to a growing demand of radioisotopes and advances. Dhruva name was given by Giani Zail Singh (former President).
5. PURNIMA-I (1972) was the first experimental fast reactor built in BARC with Plutonium Oxide as the fuel.
6. PURNIMA-II (1984) was 100 mW experimental thermal reactor in BARC achieved criticality on May 10, 1984.
7. PURNIMA-III (1990) was another U-233 based 1 W thermal reactor built in BARC. P in PURNIMA stands for 'Plutonium'.