Ratan Kumar Sinha,58, has been appointed Director, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Trombay. He will take over from Srikumar Banerjee, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), who is holding additional charge as Director of the BARC.
Mr. Sinha is now Director, Reactor Design and Development Group at BARC. He is also its Director, Design, Manufacturing and Automation group.
Mr. Sinha said he would assume charge in a few days. He, along with Anil Kakodkar, former AEC Chairman, is one of the key designers of the futuristic Advanced Heavy Water Reactor (AHWR), which will use thorium as the fuel.
Mr. Sinha is at present working on the Advanced High Temperature Reactor which will generate hydrogen. For, hydrogen will be the fuel of the future.
He was one of the architects of the life extension and rehabilitation programme of the two reactors of the Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS) at Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu and was instrumental in repairing the en masse coolant channels of the these two reactors. This led not only to their longer life but their power generation capability reaching the full output of 220 MWe each, Mr. Sinha said.
