Lok Sabha Question No. 2415 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-08-01
Subject: Research and Development Activities by DAE
Ministry: ATOMIC ENERGY
Asked by: K.R.P. PRABAKARAN

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA DEPARTMENT OF ATOMIC ENERGY

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2415

TO BE ANSWERED ON 01/08/2018

## RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES BY DAE

2415.   SHRI K.R.P. PRABAKARAN:

Will the PRIME MINISTER be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Department  of  Atomic  Energy  (DAE)  through  its  various  Research  and Development activities is striving hard against all odds to uplift the standard of living in the country;
- (b) if so, details thereof; and
- (c) the fund/allocations made by the Government in this regard during each of the last three years and the current year?

## ANSWER

THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES & PENSIONS AND PRIME MINISTER'S OFFICE (Dr. JITENDRA SINGH) :

- (a) Yes, Madam.
- (b) Details  of  various  R&D activities  of  Department of Atomic Energy  (DAE)  aimed  at  the upliftment of the standard of living in the country are as follows:
- i) Research and Development for nuclear power production.
- ii) Waste Management for Swachh Bharat :

Efforts  are  made  at  Bhabha  Atomic  Research  Centre  (BARC)  to  develop techniques  for  faster  and  efficient  degradation  of  biodegradable  waste  and convert  it  to  natural  resources  for  reuse.  NISARGRUNA  technology  using biphasic  bio-methanation  process  takes  care  of  the  biodegradable  waste  by converting it into two useful byproducts in the form of biogas and manure. Biogas can be used for a community kitchen, hotel kitchen or it can be converted into electricity. NISARGRUNA technology has been commercialized through technology transfers and deployed on fairly large scale.

Radiation  Hygienization  Technology  employs  a  simple,  economic,  effective reproducible and scalable process to deal with the sewage sludge. Municipal Dry sludge is  Hygienised  using  gamma radiation and its use as organic manure is found satisfactory.  A 100 ton/day dry sludge hygienisation facility is constructed at Ahmedabad by Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation with technical support from BARC under MOU.

## iii) Agriculture for food security:

BARC  has  developed  45  high  yielding  varieties  of  pulses  and  oilseeds  using nuclear  techniques,  these  varieties  include  15  of  groundnut,  8  of  mung  dal,  5 each of pigeon pea and Urid dal, 3 each of mustard & rice, 2 each of soyabean & cowpea and one each of jute & sunflower.

## iv) Food Preservation for food security :

DAE has set up two irradiation  plants  for  food  preservation,  one  for  low  dose irradiation at Lasalgaon,  Nashik,  Maharashtra  and  another  for  high  dose irradiation at Vashi, Navi Mumbai, Maharashtra. Success of these two plants has led to the establishment of 13 more food irradiation plants by state governments and private entrepreneurs with technical support of DAE.

## v) Water Treatment :

It  is  one  of  the  key  drivers  under  non-power  applications  of  DAE  programme. BARC is engaged in R&D on various aspects of desalination & Water purification technologies starting from basic research work to development and deployment. Several  membrane  assisted  technologies  have  been  developed  at  BARC  for desalination of brackish and seawater and purification of contaminated water for drinking purposes at domestic and/or community levels.

## vi) Health Care:

In the field of health care , t he Radiation Medicine Centre (RMC), Parel, Mumbai, is  in  the  forefront  of  practicing  Nuclear  Medicine  for  health  care.  Nuclear Medicine uses radioactive isotopes (radio-isotopes) for the non-invasive diagnosis  of  several  human  diseases,  including  cardiology,  oncology  (cancer), neurology, psychiatry and infectious diseases and for the treatment of thyrotoxicosis, thyroid cancer, neuroendocrine tumors, neural crest tumors, bone-

pain  palliation  etc.  Several  thousand  patients  are  referred  to  RMC  each  year. This includes Positron Emission Tomography PET-imaging for cancer diagnosis, staging,  therapy  planning  and  management.  PET-imaging  has  revolutionized cancer diagnosis by making possible early detection. The cost to the patient is the lowest, compared to any other nuclear medicine centre in India. RMC has the largest  registry  in  India  for  radio-isotope  therapy  for  thyroid  cancer  and  neuroendocrine tumors.

Bhabhatron is an indigenous tele-cobalt machine developed by BARC for cancer treatment with High Source Capacity of 250 RMM (Roentgen/min. at 1 meter). The design of machine is as per the compliance to requirements of International Electro-technical  Commission  (IEC)  and  the  extensive  clinical  trials  at  Tata Memorial Centre have been carried out successfully.

In  India,  the  ratio  of  doctors  to  the  rest  of  the  population  is  significantly  low. BARC  has  developed  mobile  network  based  low  cost,  handheld  12-Channel Tele-ECG machine. The mobile network use has the advantage of its reach to about 80% population. The instrument records all 12 ECG channels simultaneously and generates report in form of an image for transmission to the expert's  mobile  phone  through  Multimedia  Messaging  Service  (MMS)  or  any other file sharing apps.

- vii) Development  of  'Tuberculoscope', a low cost and  portable  TB  Detection microscope.  Technology  of  the  '  Tuberculoscope'  has  been  made  available through DAE technology transfer procedure.
- viii) Development  of  'Oncodiagnoscope',  a  low  cost  and  portable  instrument  for screening of oral cancer. Technology of the 'Oncodiagnoscope' has been made available through DAE technology transfer procedure.
- ix) Agricultural radiation processing facility for irradiation of medical, industrial and agricultural products is nearing completion.
- x) Concept  of  liquid  nitrogen  based  reefer  unit  has  been  demonstrated.  On  its successful  implementation  through  prototyping  and  technology  transfer,  it  will

serve as an important component in the 'Cold Chain' for distribution of perishable agricultural products.

- xi) Laser technology based solutions for maintenance of nuclear power reactors has resulted in improvement in plant availability factor of nuclear power reactors. Inhouse developed laser systems are used for these applications.
- xii) The material for Advanced Ultra Super-Critical (AUSC) thermal power plants are being developed by IGCAR. Also IGCAR is involved in the support to activities relating to space mission, development of magnetoencephalography /magnetocardiography  system  for  measuring  the  physiological  activities  of  the human  brain  and  heart  respectively,  a  technology  for  fluoride  removal  from drinking  water,  as  a  spin-off  from  effluent  treatment  method,  thermography  for detection  of  breast  cancer,  production  of 89 Sr  isotope  as  a  palliative  medicine, assessment of fatigue damage in Aircraft Landing Gears for Indian Air Force and comprehensive fingerprinting of South Indian Bronze idols for authentic identification etc. which have direct application to the society.
- (c) The funds allocated during the last three years and current financial year (2018-19) for R&D activities in DAE are mentioned below:

| YEAR      |   ALLOCATION (Rs.in crore) |
|-----------|----------------------------|
| 2015-2016 |                    3368.95 |
| 2016-2017 |                    2621.53 |
| 2017-2018 |                    2326.82 |
| 2018-2019 |                    2413.31 |

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