Retd BARC scientist fights war against N-hazard

Imagine nuclear scientists at work in hi-tech laboratories trying to find a foolproof method to prevent another Chernobyl. One such search e...

Imagine nuclear scientists at work in hi-tech laboratories trying to find a foolproof method to prevent another Chernobyl. One such search ends in a room furnished with a wooden table, a chair, a creaking table fan and a microwave oven.

With a Rs 10.6-lakh grant from the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), a retired scientist who has spent 36 years at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) is doing this job full-time, for free.

Using instruments painstakingly pieced together, S.R. Dharwadkar says he is on the verge of developing a ceramic matrix that will contain and immobilise tonnes of high-level nuclear waste.

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The story began in 1998 when Dharwadkar retired from BARC as head of the High Temperature and Solid State Chemistry section. Beginning June 1999, he started offering free services as honorary professor to MSc and research students in the Department of Physical Chemistry at the Institute of Science, Mumbai.

In September 2001, the DAE cleared Rs 10.6 lakh to him to develop by 2004 safer, low-energy and low-cost materials to store and immobilise nuclear waste so that it doesn’t disperse into the environment. Radioactive material is today incorporated in a glass matrix, and the potential disadvantages are too many to ignore. Dharwadkar has since been experimenting with a ceramic matrix to contain the waste generated by India’s 14 nuclear reactors.

Incidentally, the scientist is still waiting for a telephone connection which the DAE had agreed to pay for. The approval, first filled out in 1999, has now found its way to the files of the Director of Higher Education in Pune. But Dharwadkar is too busy to notice.

The scientist didn’t even think twice when the DAE grant proved too little to buy imported instruments for the required simulated, dummy experiments and synthesis of materials. Dharwadkar just rolled back his sleeves, recruited a handful of PhD students and rigged up a microwave oven to replace the conventional furnace. Cheap and low on energy use.

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Next to the microwave is a differential thermal analyser — imported price tag Rs 7 lakh, made in Mumbai for Rs 1.3 lakh.

‘‘When government funding towards science is limited, there is no choice but to be flexible and self-reliant,’’ Dharwadkar says. ‘‘The government pension takes care of my survival, but that’s no reason to sit idle at home. Why waste grants on costly equipment from abroad when the principles of these instruments are known to Indian scientists? We can make them for next to nothing.’’

Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar says: ‘‘I’m aware of Dharwadkar’s work. The search for improved materials to contain nuclear waste is on at BARC also. Between the laboratory and actual implementation is a long road.’’