BARC recommissions upgraded version of Apsara, India’s oldest research reactor after nine years
12th September, 2018Category: National, Science and Technology
The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) has recommissioned an upgraded version of ‘Apsara’, the country’s oldest research reactor that was decommissioned almost a decade ago. The research reactor uses plate-type dispersion fuel elements made of low enriched uranium (LEU). Apsara was first made operational on August 4, 1956 in Trombay campus of BARC when it became Asia’s first research reactor at the time and the country began production of radioisotopes.
The design of the pool-type reactor using enriched uranium fuel was conceptualised in 1955 by Dr Homi Bhabha himself. The name Apsara was coined by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Later, BARC set up two other research reactors Cirus and Dhruva. However, after having been in service for over five decades, the reactor was shut down in 2009 and decommissioned.
Today, radioisotopes are used in the field of medicine for diagnosis and therapy, food preservation, agriculture, and other industries.
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