Radiological & Environmental Safety Division

Mandate

Achievements

Expertise

Infrastructure/Facilities

  • Aerosol Test Facility comprising of 1 m3 chamber, aerosol generation system viz. sodium combustion cell, 40kW Thermal Plasma Torch and Aerosol diagnostic systems for number, mass and charge-size distribution measurements ranging from 10nm to 100 µm in both on-line and off-line detection.
  • Microbiology and molecular biology laboratory for assessment of environmental and experimental samples (RT-PCR, Multimode microplate reader).
  • Microscopy laboratory for identification of plankton and benthos.
  • Analytical facilities for physicochemical and biological properties of water and sediment (Atomic Absorption Spectrometer, TOC Analyser, Nutrient Autoanalyser).
  • Drosophila culture facility for radiation effect study.
  • State of art Regional Calibration Facility of Gamma Radiation monitoring
  • Nuclear Counting Laboratory for radioactivity measurements in various matrices of environmental sample
  • HEPA Filter Test Rig.
    • Computational tools
      • ANSYS Fluent and OpenFOAM for modelling multiphase and multi physics systems
      • HAARM Code for aerosol dynamics
      • Drop code for stability analysis of liquid jets
      • code for core bubble expansion during CDA

    1.Regional Calibration Laboratory is an NABL accredited uunique facility for the calibration of gammas and neutron survey instruments.

    • It has four sources of Cs-137 [1213 Ci, 30 Ci, 500 mCi and 10 mCi], Co-60 – 1 Ci, and Am-241 – 1 Ci. It is
      • fully automated with software controlled source selection and Linear distancing system.
      • inbuilt safety and security features.
      • Laser alignment for source-detector
      • Caters to the needs of DAE, NDRF and other industrial requirements

    2. Nuclear Counting Laboratory

    • This is an NABL accredited counting lab with state of art counting instruments and spectrometers. Laboratory has been successfully functioning for more than 33 years. It handles all environmental Sample for analysis inside Kalpakkam site. The new additions are the Carbon-14 measurement in air system with standardised Methodology. The lab routinely participates in Proficiency Test conducted by IAEA.

    3. Radiometry facility for shield integrity tests

    • Gamma Radiometry with 90 Ci Co-60 source is assembled and used successfully for DFRP Concrete & Lead Cells shielding integrity tests. A methodology for spatial location and size of the cracks and voids in shields has also been developed.

    4.HEPA Filter Test Lab

    • An NABL accredited facility, the HFTL provides services to the filter bank testing requirements of glove boxes and stacks of the DAE facilities in the southern region including NFC. It regularly participates in inter lab comparison excercises and strictly follows the quality management protocols of NABL.

    5. IR Thermal Imaging facility

    • The facility with non-ionising IR iradiation is used frequently for Crack detection in leak before break experiments in 550 NB pipe of secondary sodium system of PFBR, Leak detection in reprocessing vessel etc. Further, IR Imaging is developed as Adjunct Diagnostic Tool in Medical Imaging and successfully demonstrated as a rapid screening tool for mamography.

    6.Gamma Irradiation Chamber

    • The GR5000 and other irradiators are frequently used for seed irradiation for mutation research, medical irradiation of cadaver bones etc in addition to in-house requirements.

    7. Information Centre at TCPS, RESD, Chennai.

    8.Aerosol Test Facility

    • Aerosol Test Facility comprising of 1 m3 chamber, aerosol generation system viz. sodium combustion cell, 40kW Thermal Plasma Torch and Aerosol diagnostic systems for number, mass and charge-size distribution measurements ranging from 10nm to 100 µm in both on-line and off-line detection.

    9.Microbiology lab

    • Clockwise: AAS, Auto Analyser, Culturing facility and RT-PCR analyser.