Southern States - Kerala   

Work on power plant at Kalpakkam to begin soon

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Nov. 14. The chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission and secretary to the Department of Atomic Energy, Anil Kakodkar, has said the Nuclear Power Corporation would soon commence work on a 500 MW power plant at Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu.

At a meet-the-press programme here today, he said the plant would have a "prototype fast breeder reactor'', which would actually signify the "launching of the second stage'' of nuclear power generation in the country. Work on eight nuclear power reactors were currently progressing at four centres in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Rajastan. All these projects employed advanced technology with a lot of safety features, he said.

By the end of the Tenth Plan period (2007-08), the country would be generating 6,600 MW and by the end of the 11th Plan period (2012-13), 10,000 MW of nuclear power. The share of nuclear power in the total electricity generated in the country would be around 5 per cent by the end of the 11th Plan.

Inaugurating a National Laser Symposium, jointly organised by the Centre for Advanced Technology (CAT), Indore, Sri Chitra Tirunal Institute of Medical Sciences and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram and the University of Kerala, Dr. Kakodkar said there was a strong emphasis on basic research in lasers in the country. However, the process of taking the applications of this research to the users had to improve.

"The link between the scientist, the technology developer and the user has to be stronger. This is the challenge before us'' he said. He said the development of this link would not happen on its own. Proper policy measures had to be initiated for bringing in a sense of "compulsion'' to deliver. There should be good incentives and the scientists and the technology developers should function in an "environment of pressure'' which would make it exciting for them to take up challenges and meet deadlines, he said.

The director of CAT, D.D. Bhawalkar, said the scientists in the country had come up with two exciting medical applications of laser technology recently.

One of the applications is to facilitate early detection of cancer with the help of laser induced fluorescence, which behaves differently in healthy cells and cancerous cells. By analysing the spectrum of the fluorescence, it will be possible to detect cancer at a very early stage. Dr. Bhawalkar said this technology was currently under test at the Indore Medical College Hospital and the results so far had been very good. The second application is in the treatment of tuberculosis which has become resistant to drugs. After identifying the exact location of the tuberculosis infection in such cases, laser light is employed to stimulate the defence mechanism so that the infection responds to treatment with drugs. Dr. Bhawalkar said this technology too was under test at the Indore Medical College Hospital.

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