Nuclear scientist Sekhar Basu who helped set up facilities at Kalpakkam, Tarapur receives Padma Shri

CHENNAI : Director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and chief executive of the Nuclear Recycle Board (NRB) Sekhar Basu, who was instrumental in setting up reprocessing and waste management facilities at Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research in Kalpakkam, received Padma Shri at a civil investiture ceremony held at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Monday.
Basu has headed BARC facilities since 1988 and was responsible for commissioning Land-Based Nuclear Submarine Propulsion Plant at Kalpakkam.
He is one of the architects of India’s 80 mega watt compact Pressurised Water Reactor (PWR), which will power Arihant, the country’s nuclear-powered submarine.
This shore-based reactor at Kalpakkam started operations on September 22, 2006. An exact replica of this has gone into Arihant, which was launched in Visakhapatnam.
After taking over as director of BARC in 2012, Sekhar Basu has associated with research in engineering sciences covering physics, chemistry, biomedical, materials and others to develop and apply technology for energy, health, food and agriculture sectors.
He was assigned the responsibility of Nuclear Recycle Programme and constructed reprocessing and waste management plants at Tarapur and Kalpakkam. The Power Reactor Fuel Reprocessing Plant at Tarapur was built under his guidance.
He is a recipient of awards from Indian Nuclear Society (INS) and Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) for his significant contributions to the Indian Atomic Energy Programme.
He is a fellow of Indian National Academy of Engineers (INAE) and has a number of publications to his credit. Apart from pursuing programmes of BARC in various strategic areas, he is also working towards major expansion programmes of BARC in food and health sector.
Recently, he was involved in international fusion reactor programme, ITER, France.
has headed BARC facilities since 1988 and was responsible for commissioning Land-Based Nuclear Submarine Propulsion Plant at Kalpakkam.