Nuclear Technology and Applications

ADITYA is a medium-size tokamak installed at the Institute for Plasma Research in India. Steady state operation of tokamaks plays an important role in high temperature magnetically-confined plasma research.

The Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR) is a breeder reactor located at Kalpakkam, India. The Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) jointly designed, constructed, and operate the reactor.

The Jaduguda Mine located in Jaduguda village in the Purbi Singhbhum district of the Indian state of Jharkhand, commenced operation in 1967 and was the first uranium mine in India.
The Tummalapalle Mine is a uranium mine in Tumalapalli village located in Kadapa of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. As of March 2012 India only possesses two functional uranium mines, including the Jaduguda Mine. Uranium purification plant came into existence here in 2011.

Nuclear binding energy is the energy required to split a nucleus of an atom into its component parts. The component parts are neutrons and protons, which are collectively called nucleons. The binding energy of nuclei is always a positive number, since all nuclei require net energy to separate them into individual protons and neutrons.

The Arihant-class vessels are India's first indigenously designed and built nuclear submarine. They are being developed under the US$2.9 billion Advanced Technology Vessel (ATV) project to design and build nuclear-powered submarines. The lead vessel of the class, INS Arihant, is set to be launched for trial by the Indian Navy. Four vessels of the class are under development and expected to be in commission by 2015.

The K-family of missiles is a series of submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) developed by India to boost its second-strike capabilities and thus the nuclear deterrence. Information about this family of missiles has mostly been kept classified.

Beta voltaics are generators of electrical current, in effect a form of battery, which use energy from a radioactive source emitting beta particles (electrons). A common source used is the hydrogen isotope, tritium. Unlike most nuclear power sources, which use nuclear radiation to generate heat, which then is used to generate electricity (thermoelectric and thermionic sources), beta voltaics use a non-thermal conversion process; converting the electron-hole pairs produced by the ionization trail of beta particles traversing a semiconductor.

"The classified 'K' missile family" is known as the "Black Project" which DRDO officials are covertly working on. It is reported that "the top secret indigenous "K" missiles are faster, lighter and stealthier." These 'K' missiles are intrinsically important for India's nuclear deterrent arsenal because they provide India with a much needed ideal and invulnerable second-strike capability stated in India's Nuclear Doctrine and thus, shift the balance of power in India's favour in Asian region.

Plutonium is a radioactive actinide metal whose isotope, plutonium-239, is one of the three primary fissile isotopes. To be considered fissile, an isotope's atomic nucleus must be able to break apart or fission when struck by a slow moving neutron and to release enough additional neutrons to sustain the nuclear chain reaction by splitting further nuclei. Fission of a kilogram of plutonium-239 can produce an explosion equivalent to 21,000 tons of TNT. It is this energy that makes plutonium-239 useful in nuclear weapons and reactors.

No first use (NFU) refers to a pledge or a policy by a nuclear power not to use nuclear weapons as a means of warfare unless first attacked by an adversary using nuclear weapons. The concept can also be applied to chemical or biological warfare.

The only countries known to have detonated nuclear weapons—and that acknowledge possessing such weapons—are (chronologically by date of first test) the United States, the Soviet Union (succeeded as a nuclear power by Russia), the United Kingdom, France, the People's Republic of China, India, Pakistan, and North Korea. In addition, Israel is also widely believed to possess nuclear weapons, though it does not acknowledge having them.

The sievert (symbol: Sv) is the International System of Units (SI) derived unit of equivalent radiation dose, effective dose, and committed dose. Quantities that are measured in sieverts are designed to represent the stochastic biological effects of ionizing radiation. This SI unit is named after Rolf Maximilian Sievert.

In nuclear engineering, a neutron moderator is a medium that reduces the speed of fast neutrons, thereby turning them into thermal neutrons capable of sustaining a nuclear chain reaction involving uranium-235.

Commonly used moderators include regular (light) water (roughly 75% of the world's reactors), solid graphite (20% of reactors) and heavy water (5% of reactors). Beryllium has also been used in some experimental types, and hydrocarbons have been suggested as another possibility.

The IAEA serves as an intergovernmental forum for scientific and technical cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear technology and nuclear power worldwide. The IAEA was established as an autonomous organization on 29 July 1957. Though established independently of the United Nations, through its own international treaty - the IAEA Statute - the IAEA reports to both the UN General Assembly and Security Council.
The IAEA and its former Director General, Mohamed ElBaradei, were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize that was on October 7, 2005.