A sense of nostalgia is palpable as he talks of the miniscule laboratory that he shared with Dr Raja Ramanna and Rajagopal Chidambaram.
But this renowned scientist, Dr P.K. Iyengar, seethes with rage about the premeditated end for the bedrock of the Indian nuclear programme — the CIRUS reactor.
CIRUS, or the Canada India Research US, the 40 megawatt nuclear reactor that nurtured the country’s nuclear scientists and engineers and even produced weapons plutonium, will be decommissioned as part of the Indo-US civil nuclear deal on December 31.
Dr Iyengar says it was with pride and joy that the late Dr Homi Bhabha escorted Nobel laureates and distinguished visitors around this reactor and led young scientists to cutting-edge research in Physics, Chemistry and Metallurgy. Dr Iyengar himself was one of them.
Years later, Dr Ramanna and he designed the first nuclear device and tested it under operation ‘Smiling Buddha’ in Pokhran.
Later, it was Dr Chidambaram's turn to lead the team that devised nuclear detonations in 1998.
“Three years ago, the reactor was overhauled to help it run for another 20 years. We would have stockpiled 15 kg of plutonium a year, sufficient for three or four bombs. Why are we succumbing to the United States? Why are we going down on our knees when we haven’t received an ounce of Uranium from them?” are Dr Iyengar’s posers.
Dr Iyengar is not alone. Another retired chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, Dr M.R. Srinivasan, too, would prefer the reactor to continue functioning for many more years. “Of course, we could have gone on longer but we took the decision in the context of the Indo-US nuclear deal. We will always recall the project which was the bedrock of our nuclear programme. It was the training ground for our scientists and engineers. We have looked after it very well, and are very proud of it,” he said.
Dr Srinivasan, who served as senior scientific officer when CIRUS was commissioned in 1956, said “Cirus is the first workhouse that trained our engineers and scientists to meet world standards. It also gave rise to strong bonds of nuclear relationships with Canada and the United States. It was also the first time 20-25 engineers and scientists were sent for an 18-month-training to Canada in 1957. It was the first time that such a large bunch from India was accepted by any foreign country in their laboratory,” he recalled.
Almost 20 years later, the training at the Canadian laboratory on heavy water reactor technology and safety mechanisms provided the ground for building the 100 megawatt Dhruva reactor, also the country’s largest indigenous research reactor, and other heavy water reactors in Kaiga and Kalpakkam.
In September 1997, CIRUS was shut down for refurbishment and was scheduled to resume operation in 2003. The reactor was brought back into operation two years later than planned, in 2005. During refurbishing, a low-temperature vacuum evaporation-based desalination unit was also coupled to the reactor to serve as demonstration of using waste heat from a research reactor for sea desalination. Though the reactor has a life of 20 more years, India declared that this reactor will be shut down by 2010 in accordance with the Indo-US nuclear accord reached between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and former US President George W. Bush.
Interestingly, Dr Srinivasan points out that the original agreement between late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and his Canadian counterpart Mackenzie King, did not lay down conditions against a nuclear test.
“It was a two-page agreement that Pandit Nehru and King signed with the last sentence reading that the reactor must be used for peaceful purposes.” The reactor and the fuel, however, were shrouded in controversy after Pokhran-I, with the United States accusing India of misusing the fuel for an explosion.
Besides, the reactor was acquired at half the cost, as a wily Dr Bhabha convinced the Canadian administration to turn its share of the project into a grant. He even introduced an element of Indian mythology into it — with the dome and the jetty shaped like the Shiva lingam.
The Indo-Canadian relationship had other interesting aspects as well, with the bachelor scientist-engineers passing on vegetarian cuisine, including spicy sambars and idli, during their stay at Deep River town in Canada. Some of them fell in love with Canadian women and returned home with their brides in tow. The head of the Indian team, M.S.R. Sharma, even managed to turn his Canadian counterpart Dr Vern Austman into a devote spicy sambars and idli, during their stay at Deep River town in Canada. Some of them fell in love with Canadian women and returned home with their brides in tow. The head of the Indian team, M.S.R. Sharma, even managed to turn his Canadian counterpart Dr V. Austman into a devotee of Lord Balaji. Dr Austman subsequently made many visits to Tirupati and grew close to several Indian families.
It was Dr Bhabha’s vision that led to selection of this reactor and thus laid the foundation for the e of Lord Balaji. Dr Austman subsequently made many visits to Tirupati and grew close to several Indian families.