Anil Kakodkar

Anil Kakodkar is an Indian nuclear scientist and mechanical engineer He was the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India and the Secretary to the Government of India, he was the Director of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay from 19962000 He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, Indias second highest civilian honour, on January 26, 2009 Apart from playing a major role in Indias nuclear tests asserting sovereignty, Kakodkar champions Indias selfreliance on thorium as a fuel for nuclear energy
Kakodkar was born in 1943 (November 11, 1943), in Barwani princely state (present day Madhya Pradesh state) to Kamala Kakodkar and Purushottam Kakodkar, both Gandhian freedom fighters He had his early education at Barwani and at Khargone, until moving to Mumbai for postmatriculation studiesKakodkar graduated from Ruparel College, then from VJTI, University of Mumbai with a degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1963 He joined the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in 1964 He obtained a masters degree in experimental stress analysis from the University of Nottingham in 1969
He joined the Reactor Engineering Division of the BARC and played a key role in design and construction of the Dhruva reactor, a completely original but hightech project He was a part of the core team of architects of Indias Peaceful Nuclear Tests in 1974 and 1998 Further he has led the indigenous development in Indias Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor Technology His work in the rehabilitation of the two reactors at Kalpakkam and the first unit at Rawatbhata, which at one stage were on the verge of being written off, are examples of his engineering capability In 1996 he became Director of the BARC and since 2000 he is leading the Atomic Energy Commission of India and also is the secretary of the Department of Atomic Energy He has published over 250 scientific papers He believes that India should be selfreliant in energy, especially by use of the cheap national thorium resources Today, he continues to engage in designing the Advanced Heavy Water Reactor, that uses thoriumuranium 233 as the primary energy source with plutonium as the driver fuel The unique reactor system, with simplified but safe technology, will generate 75 per cent of electricity from thorium