17-Nov-2018: EAST reactor hits a new temperature milestone at 100 million degrees Celsius
China has announced that its Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) reactor - an “artificial sun” designed to replicate the process our natural Sun uses to generate energy - just hit a new temperature milestone: 100 million degrees Celsius. The core of Sun reaches only about 27 million degrees Fahrenheit; comparatively the EAST reactor was, briefly, more than six times hotter than the closest star.
Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST): It is an experimental superconducting tokamak magnetic fusion energy reactor in Hefei, China. The Hefei-based Institute of Plasma Physics is conducting the experiment for the Chinese Academy of Sciences. It is operated since 2006. It was later put under control of Hefei Institutes of Physical Science.
How it works?
The EAST stands at 11 metres tall, has a diameter of 8 metres and weighs about 360 tonnes. It uses a ring to house heavy and super-heavy isotopes — atomic variations — of hydrogen known as deuterium and tritium. The isotopes are heated by powerful electric currents within the tokamak, tearing electrons away from their atoms and forming a charged plasma of hydrogen ions. Powerful magnets lining the inner walls of EAST then contain the plasma to a tiny area to maximise the chance that the ions will fuse together. When the ions fuse they give off a large amount of energy, which can then be harnessed to run a power plant and produce electricity.
18-Sep-2018: Medical Cyclotron Facility Cyclone-30 Became Operational at VECC, Kolkata
Cyclotrons are used to produce radioisotopes for diagnostic and therapeutic use for cancer care. Cyclone-30, the biggest cyclotron in India for medical application became operational this month when 30 MeV beam reached the Faraday Cup for the first time last week. Subsequently, beam from this facility was used to produce 18F (Fluorine-18 isotope) for the preparation of [18 Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG), a radio-pharmaceutical used by Board of Radiation & Isotope Technology (BRIT). The facility will start regular production by the middle of the next year after the commissioning of the supporting nuclear systems and regulatory clearances. Cyclone-30 facility at VECC, Kolkata, a Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) unit, will have many unique features, under various stages of implementation, which are first of its kind in many ways. After the commissioning of liquid target (for FDG production) and solid targets (production of Germanium-68, Palladium-103 and other isotopes), work on studies related to installation of Iodine isotope [1-123] production target, material study target and Accelerator Driven System target will also be taken up.
This facility will provide for affordable radio isotopes and related radiopharmaceuticals for the entire country especially, for Eastern India and also have export potential for Germanium-68/Gallium-68 generator for in-situ production of Gallium-68 and Palladium-103 isotopes, used for breast cancer diagnosis and prostate cancer treatment, respectively.
Cyclone-30 commissioning re-emphasises the capability of Indian scientists and engineers to deliver at the highest level of science and technology.
11-Sep-2018: Apsara – U Reactor Becomes Operational at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay
“Research reactors are the back bone of Nuclear Programme” said Dr. Homi J. Bhabha, the father of Indian Nuclear programme, in early fifties. Subsequently “Apsara”, the first research reactor in Asia became operational in Trombay campus of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in August 1956. After providing more than five decades of dedicated service to the researchers, the reactor was shut down in 2009.
Nearly sixty-two years after Apsara came into existence, a swimming pool type research reactor “Apsara-upgraded”, of higher capacity was born at Trombay on 10th September 2018 at 18:41 hrs. The reactor, made indigenously, uses plate type dispersion fuel elements made of Low Enriched Uranium (LEU). By virtue of higher neutron flux, this reactor will increase indigenous production or radio-isotopes for medical application by about fifty percent and would also be extensively used for research in nuclear physics, material science and radiation shielding.
This development has re-emphasized the capability of Indian scientists and Engineers to build, complex facilities for health care, science education and research.