Q1.
Research and explore more about Dhruva!
Answer
Dhruva is India's largest research reactor, at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Trombay, Mumbai. It is not a power reactor — it does not generate electricity for the grid. Its job is to be an intense, steady source of neutrons for experiments.
What a research reactor is for
- Neutron scattering. A beam of neutrons is fired at a sample and the scattered neutrons are recorded. Because neutrons are uncharged, they pass through the electron cloud and interact with the nuclei, so they map where the atoms sit inside a solid — something X-rays do poorly for light atoms such as hydrogen.
- Making radioisotopes for hospitals — for example the 6027Co used in cancer radiotherapy and the 13153I used for thyroid disorders.
- Testing materials under neutron irradiation before they are used in power reactors.
What Indian scientists have learnt using it — the internal structure of superconductors, how lithium ions move inside battery electrodes, the shapes of drug molecules, and the behaviour of industrial alloys. These results feed directly into better medicines, better energy storage and stronger alloys made in India.
Try This: make a one-page profile of Dhruva. Find out (i) the year it reached full power, (ii) its thermal power rating in MW, (iii) what it uses as fuel, moderator and coolant, and (iv) the name of the smaller BARC reactor commissioned in 1956 that came before it. Use the BARC and Department of Atomic Energy websites, which are the reliable sources here.
Why it matters: Homi Jehangir Bhabha, the father of India's nuclear programme, argued that a country must own its research tools, not rent them. A reactor like Dhruva means Indian scientists can run neutron experiments at home instead of waiting for beam time abroad.