IIEST, BARC tie up for nuclear research

KOLKATA: IIEST-Shibpur and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai, are eying a tie-up for several education programmes, including a nuclear science MTech degree.
BARC director Sekhar Basu and IIEST director Ajoy Kumar Ray on Wednesday discussed collaboration on a range of topics — from advanced research on radioisotopes to nuclear medicine, food preservation and water management.IIEST will receive a grant once the proposal is sanctioned.
“There is hardly any N-research here, with a few exceptions. Apart from giving a boost to nuclear education here, we also plan a radiation treatment centre at Rajarhat,” said Basu.
The radiation centre will come up as a referral unit of the second campus of Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute at Rajarhat. “When the medical cyclotron comes up, in combination with our radiation centre and the 700-bed hospital, it could turn out to be Kolkata’s biggest nuclear contribution to the eastern region,” Basu said.
Ray said: “We are working with BARC on a Ganga project, too. We are keen on the use of nuclear energy in societal applications.”
Abhijit Majumdar, an assistant professor at IIEST, said that a fellowship scheme has been formulated for MTech students, who will be recruited by BARC after their course is over.