Report about one day “National seminar on Nuclear Science and Technology”

(NSNST-2017) held at Mody University of Science & Technology,

Lakshmangarh (Sikar) in collaboration and

with sponsorship of DAE, Mumbai on 23rd

March, 2017

One Day “National Seminar on Nuclear Science & Technology” (NSNST-2017) was

organized by College of Engineering & Technology, Mody University of Science & Technology,

Lakshmangarh (Sikar) on 23rd

March, 2017 in collaboration and with sponsorship of

Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Mumbai. The objective of seminar was to create

awareness amongst the young budding women engineers about the nuclear power programme

and other societal benefits of atomic energy. The expert lectures were intended to clear myths,

ignorance and doubt about nuclear radiations and help them to understand how it is being

utilized for welfare of society and to improve the quality of life. The seminar was unique since

all the seven invited speakers were senior women engineers/scientists from different units of

DAE and it was held at one of the leading women university in India. The total participants in

this seminar were 277, which included 200 student participants of Mody University from

different B. Tech. / M. Tech. / M.Sc. programs and 30 students from engineering and science

colleges of Sikar district and 47 faculty members.

The seminar was conducted at “Sangeet Samrat Tansen Sabhagar” in the University campus and

it consisted of inaugural function, two technical sessions having invited talks from experts,

screening of two video films, display of posters and exhibits and concluding session with

question answer and student feedback. The inaugural function started in traditional manner by

‘lighting the lamp’, ‘Saraswati Vandana’ and ‘University song’. Prof. P. K. Ghosh (Head,

Electronics & Communication Engineering department, CET) welcomed the invited speakers

and participants. Prof. Suresh Advani, President, Mody University and chair person of the

inaugural function told about the importance of nuclear energy in 21st century and requested the

experts to remove myths about nuclear radiation and nuclear power by creating the awareness

among the young graduates so that with a good and open mind they can accept the challenges

and march forward in this direction. Chief guest Dr. S. B. Roy, Former director, Chemical

Engineering Group, BARC motivated the young graduates by narrating that she choose to work

on shop floor for uranium metal extraction to bust the myth that this field is not meant for

women. Guest of honor Dr. Saroja Saibaba, Head, Physical Metallurgy Division, IGCAR,

Kalapkam elaborated about enjoyment and self satisfaction one achieves by working in such a

cutting edge technological field. Seminar convener Prof. N. K. Joshi (Head, Nuclear Science and

Technology department, CET) offered sincere thanks to all the expert speakers, DAE chairman

for sponsorship and to Shri Ravi Shankar, Head, Public awareness Division, DAE for giving

final shape to this one day seminar. He thanked Prof. V. K. Jain, Dean, CET for his full support

and guidance.

He informed the audience that this women university is already running a M. Tech. (Nuclear

Science and Technology) program and is going to start B. Tech. (Nuclear Science &

Technology) program from the academic session (2017- 18). He also expressed his special

thanks to persons from DAE and AMD, Jaipur for bringing attractive posters and exhibits.

The pre lunch technical session started with a talk by Dr. Saroja Saibaba giving detailed

overview about the various activities of Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), India. She has

discussed how DAE has been engaged in the development of nuclear power technology,

applications of radiation technologies in the fields of agriculture, medicine, industry and basic

research. The talk was followed by a Video Screening of the television interview of Dr. Sekhar

Basu, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission, India. In the conversation with interviewer and

audience, he has tried to breakout different myths about the nuclear energy such as ‘A nuclear

reactor can explode like a nuclear bomb’ and ‘Nuclear Power is expensive and unaffordable’.

Dr. Sharmila Banerjee, Head, Radiation Medicine Centre, BARC, Mumbai gave a very

informative and lucid talk on ‘Nuclear Radiation- Myths & Facts’. She explained that Nuclear

power plants emit negligible amount of radiation and cause no threat to the community or the

atmosphere. After more than fifty years of radiological monitoring and medical research, there

has been no confirmation suggesting that radiation from nuclear plants has negative impact on

human health. Mrs. Anubhooti Saxena from Atomic Minerals Directorate (AMD), Jaipur has

addressed the gathering about ‘Nuclear Resources and Exploration’. Dr. S. B. Roy, discussed

about the nuclear fuel cycle and explained about the advantage of closed cycle path over open

cycle path. She also explained about the process of uranium extraction and about the colorful

nature of uranium chemistry. In another talk in this session she gave a brief overview of

Radioactive Waste. She has enlightened the audience about utilization of radioactive waste as

further resource in form of radioisotopes which has applications in medicine, industry and other

technological fields. Mrs. Dipti Bachawat, Additional Chief Engineer, Nuclear Power

Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), Mumbai presented two technical talks in this session and

discussed in depth about ‘Indian Nuclear Power Programme – Stage 1 (PHWR’s and LWR’s)’

gave a vivid picture and presented a walkthrough of Indian Nuclear Power Plants.

Posters and exhibits brought from DAE, Mumbai and AMD, Jaipur were displayed in the gallery

outside the auditorium. The objective of this exhibition was to create awareness about different

peaceful applications of Nuclear Technology. The posters (around 25) primarily focused on the

topics of interest like PHWR, Light water based reactors (LWR), Fast breeder reactors (FBR),

Radioactive Waste Management techniques, Radioisotopes productions techniques,

Radiopharmaceuticals, Application of radiation technology in diagnosis and therapy for health

care, Application of radiation technology in agriculture & food and High energy physics. The

exhibits displayed different Uranium Rocks sample like quartzite with secondary Uranium and

Sodium Iodide based detectors like Radiation survey meters. The exhibits also had some mutant

varieties of pulses and groundnut developed using radiation technology by BARC, Mumbai.

It attracted a large number of university students along with faculty members from different

engineering and science streams.

The post lunch technical session started again with a talk by Dr. Saroja Saibaba on ‘Indian

Nuclear Power program – Stage 2 & 3’. She explained about the fast breeder reactor and

utilization of thorium and told that by following the path shown by Dr. Homi J Bhabha, our

country is the only country in the world working on all the three stages. Dr. Garima Sharma,

Member, NCPW delivered a talk on ‘Nuclear Energy- Green Sustainable Source’ and

highlighted that nuclear energy is pollution free, without any green house effect and a long term

solution for energy crisis. In this session, Dr. Sharmila Banerjee gave a very informative talk on

health care through ‘Nuclear Science & Medicine’. She told that radiation can be applied in wide

range of ways. X-Ray, computerized tomography (CT) scan, and Positron emission tomography

(PET) and Gamma Cameras can create thorough images of the human body, which offer

precious diagnostic information. Radio nuclides are also used to cure illnesses, such as cancer

and radioactive iodine which is taken up exclusively by the thyroid, can be used to treat

hyperthyroidism. Dr. Jyoti Tripathi, Food Technology Divison, BARC explained in a very

interesting manner how nuclear science and technology is impacting modern agriculture and

house hold kitchen. A video film was screened on non power applications of nuclear science &

technology. In the last talk of this session, Dr. Garima Sharma told students about the ‘Carrier

Opportunities for science and engineering graduates in DAE’ and gave detailed information

about different training programs like OCES, DGFS etc. and various fellowships under HBNI.

At the end of the seminar, there was an interaction session in which students and faculty asked

many questions specific to lecture topics and also about career opportunities in the Atomic

Energy field. It was a very live session with good participation and experts resolved the queries.

Student participants were asked to come to the podium and give their remarks regarding seminar.

Students expressed that it was a memorable day and wonderful opportunity for them to learn and

seminar was very informative and useful to them. Beside this the students were also requested to

submit back the feedback sheets given to them in their registration kit. The organizers are

grateful to Chairman, DAE for sponsoring this seminar and to Shri Ravi Shankar for helping in

all possible ways. The organizers are extremely thankful to all speakers and other persons from

DAE for giving their valuable time and visiting our university.

Prof. N. K. Joshi

(Convener, NSNST-2017)

Head, Department of Nuclear Science and Technology

CET, MUST, Lakshmangarh (Sikar), Rajasthan

e-mail: nkjoshi50@gmail.com

nkjoshi.cet@modyuniversity.ac.in

Please see the attached news clippings and photos:

Student rush at registration desk

Inaugural Function

Section of Audience

Group Photograph

Prof. N. K. Joshi offering Memento to Dr. Saroja Saibaba

Prof. P.K. Ghosh offering Memento to Dr. Sharmila Banerjee

Mrs. Dipti Bachawat Speaking

Exhibits and Poster display

Interaction Session