‘Atomic energy dept carrying out development of advanced power reactors’ – Times of India

BHUBANESWAR: Ajit Kumar Mohanty, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) secretary and chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission said DAE is carrying out the development of advanced power reactors in the country to generate green energy. He said this while addressing the 12th graduation ceremony of the NISER Bhubaneswar here on Monday.
“First and foremost area which comes to immediate attention is the necessity to develop and deploy economical and viable green energy sources such as green hydrogen, biofuels, and nuclear energy. Global warming and climate change loom large upon us and deploying green energy sources and increasing their share in the energy basket of the nation is therefore a national and global imperative,” said Mohanty.
He said DAE has been playing an active role in this regard by operating and building nuclear power plants and carrying out the development of advanced power reactors. Large-scale deployment of green energy sources is a potential solution for decarbonizing various sectors, he added.
He said battery technology for energy storage is another area which needs to be actively pursued. “Breakthroughs in these areas would not only be a boon to the world but could also be a source of massive revenues to the nation,” he added.
VK Saraswat, a member of NITI Aayog, applauded NISER’s initiative for setting up a Cyclotron Centre facility, that has the potential to produce medically useful and critical radioisotopes to meet the growing nationwide demand for nuclear imaging in functional diagnostics. “The facility is also seen as a catalyst for research and development in fields such as nuclear medicine, nuclear physics, material sciences, radiobiology, and radiation chemistry,” he added.
The ceremony witnessed the graduation of 165 integrated MSc students from the 12th batch, along with one integrated PhD student and 54 PhD students. Adittya Pal from the School of Chemical Sciences received a gold medal for the best all-around academic performance among all disciplines in the Integrated MSc class.
NISER bestowed silver medals upon departmental toppers who exhibited exemplary performances in their respective fields. Several memorial awards were also presented to the deserving candidates, said the official sources.