Lok Sabha Question No. 3077 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-19
Subject: DAE’s Contributions beyond Nuclear Power
Ministry: ATOMIC ENERGY
Asked by: Shri Biplab Kumar Deb, Smt. Kamaljeet Sehrawat

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## DEPARTMENT OF ATOMIC ENERGY LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO - 3077 ANSWERED ON 19/03/2025

## DAE's CONTRIBUTIONS BEYOND NUCLEAR POWER

## 3077.   SMT. KAMALJEET SEHRAWAT SHRI BIPLAB KUMAR DEB

Will the PRIME MINISTER be pleased to state:-

- (a) whether it is true that the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) units also work in areas beyond Nuclear Power Production and caters to other societal areas and if so, the details thereof?
- (b) the  statistics  of  DAE  technologies  that  have  been  transferred  to  industrial  and  rural enterprises?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) Yes, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) is a multi-disciplinary Nuclear Research Centre  of  India  having  excellent  infrastructure  for  advanced  Research  and Development  with  expertise  covering  the  entire  spectrum  of  usages  of  atomic energy.    DAE  plays  a  crucial  role  in  various  societal  sectors  such  as  nuclear agriculture & food preservation, health care, water treatment and waste management  through  its  extensive  research  and  technological  advancements. Various  technologies  pertaining  to  societal  applications  developed  by  DAE  are mentioned below:

## Nuclear Agriculture & Food Preservation :

1. To ensure food security in years to come, DAE has well laid programmes for crop improvement,  food  preservation  using  radiation technology.  Using radiation  induced  mutagenesis  along  with  cross  breeding,  Bhabha  Atomic Research Centre (BARC) a constituent unit, has developed varieties in oilseeds

(groundnut,  mustard,  soybean  and  sunflower),  pulses  (urdbean,  mungbean, pigeonpea and cowpea), rice and jute, wheat etc. Total of 70 (seventy) improved crop varieties have been developed, Gazette notified and released for commercial cultivation across the country. These crop varieties have desirable traits such as high yield, disease resistance, early maturity, climate resilience, biotic and abiotic stress tolerance etc.

2. Preservation of food forms another important area for National Food Security. Feasibility of food irradiation for preservation has been studied for a number of agricultural and food commodities for several years. Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) notified 'Food Safety and Standards (Food Product Standards and Food Additives) Sixth Amendment, 2016 and the Food Safety and Standards (Packaging and Labelling) Fourth Amendment, 2016' related to standards and labelling requirements for irradiated foods.

Radiation  processing  of  food  is  very  effective  in  treating  the  agricultural produce and flesh foods. Extension of shelf life of these produces is very much depended on the produce, variety and storage conditions.

BARC  has  developed  radiation-based  technology  for  setting  up  irradiation plants and protocols for gamma irradiation of several food items to extend their shelf life, provide safe foods and promote exports. A large number of food items for various objectives are being irradiated commercially. Till date 28 (twentyeight) irradiation plants based on BARC developed technology have been setup in the country.

Standard  Operating  Procedures  (SOPs)  involving  gamma  irradiation  and subsequent storage in controlled environment have been developed for shelflife extension of onion and potatoes up to 7.5 months and 8 months respectively while retaining the quality attributes. Large-scale trials have been carried out for  the  same.  SOPs  involving  radiation  technology  has  been  successfully demonstrated to extend the shelf life of mangoes to facilitate export through sea route.  SOPs for shelf-life extension of cereals, wheat, spices, mushroom, fruits & vegetables such as green tomato, broccoli, poultry, fish and fishery products have also been developed.

Some of the irradiation-based  food  preservation  technologies  developed  and transferred to private entrepreneur for commercialisation are preservative free Shelf  Stable  Jamun  product,  Sprouts  &  Sweet  Corn  Kernels,  intermediate moisture  shrimp  and  ready-to-eat  (RTE)  intermediate  moisture  (IM)  fruits cubes.

Litchi Treatment plant based upon BARC technology was set-up at National Research Centre on Litchi, ICAR located at Mushahari, Muzaffarpur, Bihar. An Indian patent has been awarded to this technology which increases the shelf-life of litchi up to 60 days.

3. Eco-friendly and biodegradable BARC-hydrogel, which can absorb water up to 550 times of its weight has been developed and deployed for agriculture in arid regions.
4. Gamma  Chamber  Facility  at  Indira  Gandhi  Centre  for  Atomic  Research (IGCAR) a constituent unit of DAE, has been used for irradiation of seeds and plants by various universities for research purposes.
5. Raja Ramanna  Centre for Advanced Technology (RRCAT), Indore a constituent unit of DAE has indigenously developed 10 MeV industrial electron linacs, process technology and electron beam radiation processing facility for terminal sterilization of medical device.  Since starting operations, the facility has  provided  electron  beam  services  for  sterilization  of  more  than  75  Lakh medical  devices  for  various  medical  devices  industries.  RRCAT  has  also developed 10 MeV, 10 kW food irradiation linac which is useful for setting up food irradiation facilities within the country. Technology of the food irradiation linac is  available on 'technology transfer basis' to the  Indian industries and institutes which are interested in manufacturing the linacs and/or are interested in  setting  up  food  irradiation  facilities.  The  facility  is  also  used  for  colour modification of precious gem stones by the industry.
6. RRCAT has developed  a  Liquid  Nitrogen  cooling  based  technology  named 'SHIVAY'- Sheetal  Vahak  Yantra  for  transportation  of  perishable  fruits  & vegetables  under  combination  of  controlled  temperature,  humidity  and  inert

atmosphere for freshness of fruits and vegetables for a long duration during transportation.  The  system  is  successfully  tested  for  about  4000  km  of  road trials.  Farmers  can  access  far  off  markets  even  1000  km  away  with  same freshness at a very low refrigeration cost of Rs.1/kg.

## Health Care :

## 1. Radioisotopes :

Nuclear  Medicine  uses  radioactive  isotopes  (radio-isotopes)  for  the  noninvasive diagnosis of several human diseases, including cardiology, oncology (cancer), neurology, psychiatry and infectious diseases and for the treatment of thyrotoxicosis, thyroid cancer, neuroendocrine tumours, neural crest tumours, bone-pain palliation etc. BARC  regularly produces radio-isotopes and radiopharmaceuticals  and  supply  through  Board  of  Radiation  and  Isotope Technology  (BRIT)  an  industrial  unit  of  DAE,  to  various  nuclear  medicine centres across India for diagnostics and therapeutic application for treatment of various types of cancers.

BARC has developed and demonstrated partition technology for recovery of Caesium-137,  Strontium-90  and  Ruthenium-106  from  high  level  waste  for medical applications. Non-dispersible glass pencils containing Caesium-137 is being used in blood irradiators. Strontium-90 are used for milking of Yttrium90  for  cancer  treatment.  Cost  effective 106 RuBy (Ruthenium Brachytherapy) plaques (round, notched, pediatric) developed for Eye Cancer Treatment and supplied to various hospitals in the country.

2. Chlorophyllin tablet has been developed and launched as regenerative nutraceutical and antioxidant with a commercial name of Aktocyte.  The tablets are  approved  by  Food  Safety  and  Standards  Authority  of  India  (FSSAI)  as nutraceutical.
3. BARC is significantly contributing in the field of Nuclear Medicine and for diagnostic  and  therapeutic  services  for  cancer  treatment  through  its  clinical patient  services  units  at  Radiation  Medicine  Centre  (RMC),  Mumbai  & Radiation Medicine Research Centre (RMRC), Kolkata.

4. NOx  releasing  dressing  for  the  treatment  of  Diabetic  foot  ulcer  and  other chronic wounds has been developed. The technology has been transferred to a private firm and Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) approval has been obtained for manufacturing & commercialisation.
5. Thermal Imaging for Early Detection of Breast Cancer - Technique has been applied for early detection of breast cancer successfully as an adjunct imaging modality in rural area and is now proposed on a larger scale.
6. Hyperthermia based cancer treatment using magnetic nanoparticles - Magnetic fluid  hyperthermia  is  being  developed  as  an  alternate  cancer  therapy,  where super paramagnetic nanoparticles are to be injected into cancerous tissues and subsequently exposed to high frequency alternating magnetic field.
7. Radio-isotope Production: The indigenous production of Sr-89 is an important societal need and a valuable import substitution; it is a pure beta emitter with a half-life  of  50.5  days  and  used  for  palliative  care  of  bone  metastatic  cancer. Production of Sr-89 with high specific activity  at Fast  Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR), Kalpakkam was successfully demonstrated.  The product satisfied all the  Quality  Control  Parameters  as  per  the  US,  European  and  International Pharmacopeia.  This  technology  ensures  increased  availability  and  complete import substitution.
8. The  proton  beams  from  30  MeV  Medical  Cyclotron  Facility  (MCF)  at Chakgaria  campus,  Variable  Energy  Cyclotron  Centre  (VECC),  Kolkata  a constituent  unit  of  DAE,  is  producing  radioisotopes/radiopharmaceuticals, which are used for cancer diagnostics and are being delivered on regular basis to various hospitals/Nuclear Medicine Centres.
9. Commercial  production  and  supply  of  Radiopharmaceuticals,  18F-Sodium Fluoride  (for  bone  scanning),  and  Gallium-68-PSMA  (for  diagnostics  of Prostate cancer) have been started.
10. Production and successful human  application of Thallium-201-Chloride Radiopharmaceuticals  (for  conducting  Cardiac  studies,  diagnosis  of  brain tumour) successfully carried out first time in India.

## Water Treatment :

1. Several  membrane  assisted  technologies  have  been  developed  at  BARC  for desalination of brackish & seawater and purification of contaminated water for drinking purposes at domestic and/or community levels. Desalination and water purification includes purification with respect to microbiological decontamination, arsenic removal, iron removal, de-fluoridation, salinity and hardness  removal.  The  technologies  have  been  transferred  to  several  private entrepreneurs on non-exclusive basis for commercialisation and field deployment. BARC  has installed BARC  developed water purification technologies in 200 equivalent villages in India including BSF border posts at Kutch  &  Barmer  posts,  Central  Railway  platforms  in  Mumbai  and  Indian Railway's Deen Dayalu coaches.
2. BARC  has  developed  Hybrid  granular  Sequencing  Batch  Reactor  (hgSBR) technology  for  treatment  of  sewage  waste  water.  The  technology  has  been successfully  transferred  to  private  entrepreneurs  for  commercialisation.  The technology was successfully deployed in the Kumbh 2021 and Maha Kumbh 2025.
3. A technology for removal of dye from effluent from textile industry has been developed and successfully demonstrated in a textile plant at Jodhpur.

## Waste Management :

Sludge Hygienisation :  BARC has developed radiation hygienisation technology for treating dry sewage sludge & converting into organic manure. 100 tons/day dry sludge hygienisation plants have been set up and operationalised by Ahmedabad and Indore Municipal Cooperation with technological support from BARC.

Shesha,  a  technology  that  works  on  bio-methanation,  has  been  developed  for managing bio-degradable kitchen and garden waste from small housing society. The bio-gas produced during the process can be used as fuel & remaining process waste can be used as manure.

- (b) Till date DAE has developed and published around 250 spin-off technologies for transfer to private entrepreneur for commercialization on non-exclusive basis and nearly 850 licenses have been issued to various industrial and rural enterprises for these technologies.

Statistics on DAE technologies that have been transferred to industrial and rural enterprises in recent years is mentioned below:

| Year   | No. of technologies transferred   | No. of enterprises where technologies transferred   | No. of enterprises where technologies transferred   | No. of enterprises where technologies transferred   |
|--------|-----------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|
|        |                                   | Industrial                                          | Rural                                               | Total                                               |
| 2022   | 88                                | 98                                                  | 36                                                  | 134                                                 |
| 2023   | 91                                | 91                                                  | 31                                                  | 122                                                 |
| 2024   | 40                                | 17                                                  | 14                                                  | 41                                                  |

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