File photo of Dr Sekhar Basu
Veteran atomic scientist Dr Sekhar Basu has been appointed as India's new nuclear chief. 63-year-old Dr Basu, the man who pioneered the highly complex nuclear reactor for India's first nuclear-powered submarine INS Arihant, is the new Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission.
Dr Basu is a mechanical engineer who has already spent four decades in India's atomic energy program.
His key contribution to the nation, the INS Arihant, is powered by a nuclear rector of less than 100 MW and is fuelled using enriched uranium.
The submarine is undergoing sea trials and is likely to be inducted into the Navy in about a year. Making a nuclear reactor that is safe, compact and light weight is a Herculean task and India joined a select club in 2009 that had manufactured its own indigenously-made nuclear-powered submarine. The submarine is capable of carrying nuclear tipped missiles and completes the much needed nuclear triad and the second strike capability from under water.
Dr Basu has also been named as the new secretary of the Department of Atomic Energy. What has raised eyebrows is that his appointment term is only for 11 months as he turns 64 on September 19, next year. Dr Basu is currently the director of India's main nuclear weapons laboratory the Bhabha Atomic Research Center in Mumbai.
Speaking to NDTV, Dr Basu said even in his short tenure he hoped to speed up the commissioning of India's ambitious Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) at Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu and hoped to bring the second 1000 MW unit of the Kudankulam nuclear reactor online.
Dr RK Sinha, the current chief of the nuclear program, retires on October 23.