President inaugurates Integrated Centre for Crisis Management for CBRN emergencies at BARC

President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated Integrated Centre for Crisis Management (ICCM) at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in Mumbai, Maharashtra. The ICCM will help nation to respond more effectively to chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) emergencies. It will monitor radiological data from a network of 504 radiation sensors across the country.

Other launches

• Multi-leaf collimator system: It has been developed by BARC. It is used radiotherapy as it enables gamma radiation to be exposed only on cancer-affected organs.
• Trombay Chhattisgarh Dubraj Mutant-1: It is high-yielding dwarf variety of Dubraj mutant rice. It is 43rd high-yielding crop variety developed by BARC.

President Kovind also remotely inaugurated three other nuclear facilities of Department of Atomic Energy (DEA). They are

• Metal fuel pin fabrication facility: It has been jointly developed by BARC and Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research at Kalpakkam, near Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It will help to increase plutonium production in fast breeder reactors.
• High-power electron beam melting furnace: It is jointly developed by scientists of BARC and Nuclear Fuel Complex. It will be used for nuclear and strategic applications.
• Integrated enriched boron tri-fluoride gas generation facility: It was developed by Heavy-water Board in Odisha. It will be used in neutron detectors.

Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC)

BARC is India’s premier nuclear research facility based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It is multi-disciplinary research center with extensive infrastructure for advanced research and development. Its R&D covers entire spectrum of nuclear science, engineering and related areas. BARC’s core mandate is to sustain peaceful applications of nuclear energy, primarily for power generation.

Month: Current Affairs - May, 2018