Lok Sabha Question No. 3051 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-03-19
Subject: R&D in Cold Chain, Water & Waste Management by DAE
Ministry: ATOMIC ENERGY
Asked by: Shri Bhartruhari Mahtab, Ms Kangna Ranaut, Shri Suresh Kumar Kashyap, Smt. Roopkumari Choudhary, Shri Anurag Sharma

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## DEPARTMENT OF ATOMIC ENERGY LOKSABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO-3051 ANSWERED ON 19/03/2025

## R&D IN COLD CHAIN, WATER & WASTE MANAGEMENT BY DAE

## 3051.  SHRI SURESH KUMAR KASHYAP SHRI BHARTRUHARI MAHTAB SMT. ROOPKUMARI CHOUDHARY SHRI ANURAG SHARMA MS. KANGNA RANAUT

Will the PRIME MINISTER be pleased to state:-

- (a) whether Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has done any Research and Development (R&D) activities on technologies addressing issues related to post-harvest cold chain;
- (b) if so, the details thereof along with the efforts made for commercialisation of the same; and
- (c) whether any DAE technologies are being utilised in Water treatment & Urban Waste Management and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) Yes, the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has conducted comprehensive R&D activities on technologies specifically aimed at mitigating post-harvest spoilage in agriproduce through integrated approaches involving irradiation and cold chain. Some of the  important  agri-produce  preserved  through  this  approach  include  onion,  potato, mango and litchi.
- (b) Successful long term preservation of onion with minimal weight loss and retention of overall  quality  characteristics  has  been  demonstrated  by  Bhabha  Atomic  Research Centre (BARC) a constituent unit of DAE through various commercial trials involving different Government and private agencies.  Recently in 2023, a commercial trial was conducted  jointly  with  National  Cooperative  Consumer  Federation  (NCCF)  and

Department  of  Consumer  Affairs  through  which  the  radiation  processed  onions produced  in  Rabi  crop  were  effectively  stored  for  7.5  months  under  specified  cold storage conditions.

Potatoes can be stored after radiation processing in cold storage for extended period of 8 months without dependence on chemical sprout inhibitors. This approach helps in overcoming cold induced sweetening which otherwise results in quality deterioration for potato processing industry.  Irradiated potatoes can be stored at 14°C at Relative Humidity greater than 90% compared to traditionally used  condition  for  storage  of potato in cold storage at 2-4 °C resulting in power saving.

Irradiation has enabled the export of mangoes to USA since 2007 through the air-route. In an effort to further provide a major boost to the export of mangoes, shipment through sea-route offers a promising cost-effective alternative.  The R&D efforts at BARC have also led to the development of a USDA-APHIS approved protocol that maintains the quality of radiation processed mangoes for a month's time in cold storage thus meeting the voyage period from India to USA. The large-scale sea-route shipment of 'Kesar' mangoes was successfully accomplished in the year 2022 in joint venture with a private firm.

BARC has developed a technology by which processed litchi can be preserved up to 60 days at low temperature (4±2 °C), and relative humidity (55-60%) while retaining its nutritional, sensory (taste), functional and colour qualities. This treatment is essentially based on mild rinsing of plucked litchi fruits using three solutions containing GRAS (Generally  Recognized  As  Safe)  chemicals,  which  help  in  retaining  these  quality attributes.

- (c) Multiple  DAE  technologies  are  being  used  for  water,  wastewater  and  urban  waste management as described below :
1. DAE has developed desalination technologies viz. Multistage Flash (MSF), Multi Effect  Distillation  (MED),  Sea  Water  Reverse  Osmosis  (SWRO).  Details  of installations are as follows :
- a) 6.3 MLD hybrid MSF-SWRO Nuclear desalination plant coupled to Madras Atomic Power Station at Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu.

- b) 5.0 MLD SWRO- MED plant at Odisha Sands Complex, District Ganjam, Odisha.
2. DAE has developed membranes such as ultrafiltration (UF), nanofiltration (NF) and reverse osmosis (RO) for desalination and water purifications and transferred these technologies to Indian manufacturer for 'Atma Nirbhar Bharat'.  BARCdeveloped water purification technologies (PoU & community-scale plants based on indigenous UF & RO membranes) are commercially available and deployed in domestic households as well as on community scale through BARC licensees across India. BARC developed water purification technologies are deployed in 200 village equivalents, catering to a population of about 2 lakh people.
3. Hybrid  granular  sequencing  batch  reactor  (hgSBR)  is  a  patented  technology aimed  at  providing  compact  biological  treatment  in  the  sewage  treatment plants/effluent treatment plants.  It relies on microbial bio-beads and sequencing batch reactor (SBR) for providing effective and sustainable wastewater treatment. Due  to  the  advantages  on  treatment  and  environmental  sustainability,  several private  companies  approached  BARC  for  technology  transfer  for  large  scale deployment.  Notably, 3 numbers of hgSBR-based treatment plants each of 500 KLD capacity were deployed for treating the sewage from the temporary toilets provided  to  the  pilgrims  in  the  recently  concluded  Maha  Kumbh  2025  at Prayagraj.
4. DAE has developed is a cotton cloth-based radiation grafted matrix for treatment of effluents from dye industry.  The matrix developed is able to adsorb ionic dyes from  effluents  efficiently.    Salient  features  of  the  technology  include  green fabrication process, easily available low-cost ingredients, no by-products left in the treated water and ease of upscaling.  Demonstration plant of 75 KLD capacity based on this technology has been operating in Jodhpur, Rajasthan since last one year.
5. For urban waste management DAE has developed technology for hygienisation of sewage sludge generated in sewage treatment plants. This technology utilizes high energy gamma radiation from Co-60 for hygienizing dry sewage sludge. The hygienised sludge is a rich source of organic carbon and can be used as organic

manure for horticulture and agricultural applications. Two plants based on this technology have been commissioned under MoU with municipal corporations. The first plant was set up at Ahmedabad and second plant was set up at Indore.

6. BARC  has  developed  Nisargruna  technology  for  solid  biodegradable  waste management.  The technology converts solid biodegradable waste into two useful by-products i.e. biogas and manure.  Biogas is rich in methane contents and can be used for a community kitchen, hotel kitchen or electricity generation.  Further, Shesha, based on same technology, in compact form with smaller foot print, has also been developed for small housing society.
7. A completely indigenous technology for treatment of oil and salt contaminated waste water to obtain clean water suitable for agricultural / industrial use has been developed  by  BARC,  and  demonstrated  at  Oil  and  Natural  Gas  Corporation (ONGC)  Mehsana  under  actual  site  conditions.  The  technology  has  been transferred to industry.

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