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IGC Newsletter

Technical Articles

•CoverGasPurificationSystemPilotPlant

•AParallelClusterSupercomputeratIGCAR

Young Officer’s Forum

•BloomofTrichodesmium ErythraeumanditsImpactonWaterQualityandPlanktonCommunityStructureintheCoastalWatersofKalpakkam

Young Researcher’s Forum

•ExperimentalInvestigationofDefectsandDiffusionduringSilicidationinMetal-SiliconSystems

Conference/Meeting Highlights

• IAEAConsultancyMeetings

• DAE-BRNSThemeMeetingonMaterialsforFastBreederandFusionReactorApplications

Visit of Dignitaries to IGCAR

Forthcoming Symposia/Conferences

•WorkshoponNuclearPowerPlantLifeManagement(Won-PLiM2009)

•8thInternationalConferenceonBarkhausenNoiseandMicromagneticTesting

Awards & Honours

INDIRA GANDHI CENTRE FOR ATOMIC RESEARCHhttp://www.igcar.gov.in/lis/nl81/igc81.pdf

Volume 81 July 2009ISSN 0972-5741

I n s i d e

Founder and Architect of theIndian Atomic Energy Programme

India is targeting to reach at least the per capita energyconsumption of the present world average (2200 kWh/a)by2030 fromthecurrentvalueof660kWh/a.Accordingly,the current generation capacity of about 140 GWe is tobe raised to about 600GWeby 2030. Further, to limit thecumulativeenergyimportduringthenextfiftyyearstoabout

From the Director’s DeskChallengesinProvidingRobustDesignandTechnology

forPrototypeFastBreederReactor

30%,theelectricityavailabilityistobeincreasedbyabouttentimesinthenextfiftyyears.Suchahighdemandforenergygrowthwith the limitedresources,highfluctuationsinnaturalgaspricesandenvironmentalconsiderationsmakenuclearenergyastheinevitableoptionforthecountry.Tofulfilltheobjectivesofprovidingsustainablecleanenergy,HomiBhabhahadenvisagedathreestageprogrammemuchbeforetherealizationoftheimportanceofnuclearpowerassustainableenergyoptionandcleanenergywasvisualizedbytheworld.Underthis,thepotentialofwaterreactors(about10GWecapacity) inthefirststage,fast reactors (about42,200GWe-yr) in thesecondphaseanduseof thorium(155,000GWe-yr)inthethirdstagewouldbeexploited.Todaythewaterreactorprogramme has reached its maturity and we are operating seventeen waterreactorswith veryhigh capacity factors. The fast reactorprogramme, startedunder thesecondstage,hasbeenprogressingsteadily in thecountry for thelast forty years in themissionmode.StrongsciencebasedR&Dexecuted inmultidisciplinarydomainsandextensivecollaborationswithacademicandR&DinstitutionsandpublicsupporthavehelpedrealizingsuccessfuloperationofFastBreederTestReactorfortwentythreeyears.Constructionof500MWePrototypeFast Breeder Reactor is progressing well and is targeting for commission in2011.Further,oursuccesswouldleadtomeetingtheaspirationsofworldFBRcommunitytorealizetheirownlongtermtargets.Toreachthestatusofwhatwearenow,wehavemetmanychallengesandIhighlightbelowafewchallengeswhichwehavefacedtoachieverobustdesignandtechnologyofPFBR.

PFBRdesignaddressesallthepossiblefailuremodescomprehensively,givingdueconsiderationstotheoperatingexperiencesofaboutthreehundredninetyreactoryears.Hightemperaturedesignforlongreliableoperationofcomponentsoperatingattemperaturesaround820Kfordesignlifeoffortyyears,designofmechanismsandrotatingequipmentoperatinginsodium&argoncovergasspace,handlingthesodiumleaksandsodiumwaterreactionsinthesteamgenerators,

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IGC Newsletter

Manufacturingstagesofprimarypipe SGtubebundle Coresupportstructure

seismicanalysisof interconnectedbuildingsrestingon the common base raft, seismic design of thinwalledvessels,pumpsandabsorberrodmechanismsand in-service inspection of reactor internalswithinsodium are a few challenging issues addressed inthedesign. Theseapart, thedevelopmentofhighperformance materials in particular for the corestructures,viz.cladandwrappers,tooperateunderhightemperature,sodium,irradiationenvironments,non-metallicmaterials(specialhighdensityconcrete,elastomers, ceramics, cables, etc.), operating athigh temperatures and radiation environments andspecialsensorsforsodiumapplications(detectionofwaterleaksinsteamgenerator,sodiumleaks,puritymeasurements, level detectors), sodium chemistry,understandingofsodiumaerosolbehaviour,sodiumfire and sodium water reactions, are the complexdomains which have been mastered with strongscientificknowledgebase.

UnderstandingfullythequantumofR&Dinvolvedandavailableresources,ithasbeenplannedwellaheadtoeffectivelyusetheexpertiseavailablein-houseandelsewhereinthecountry.Firstofall,thePFBRdesignhasbeenoriginallyconceivedwiththedesireofusingwellestablished technology to themaximumextentpossiblewith ideaofkeepingR&D requirements to

theminimum. In spite of this, introductionof a fewfirst of its kind technologies is considered to beinevitable forPFBR,which isquiteunderstandable,in the context as PFBR is first in the generation oflargenumberof reactors tobebuilt in21stcentury.Even though, the items under this category arenotmany, the required R&D activities, to put themconfidently in tothereactor,wereworkedout tobequitelarge.Iwouldliketohighlightafewchallenginganalytical studies: viz. complex pool hydraulicsstudiestounderstandandprovidedesignsolutionsfor the thermal striping and thermal stratificationswithin themain vessel, seismic analysis of nuclearisland inter-connected buildings (NICB) along withthemechanical components,buckling investigationof thin shells under dynamic forces exerted duringseismic events and high rate straining on mainvesselduetofasttransientfluid-structureinteractionunderpostulatedcoredisruptiveaccidentconditions(Figures 1-3). The analytical results were validatedthroughelaborateexperimentalprogramme,afewofthemaretrulyinternationalbenchmarks.

Another important domain which decides thesuccess of Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor isthe manufacturing technology. The majority ofcomponents in a pool type SFR are thin walled

Figure1:Numericalsimulationsofthermalstripingandthermalstratificationsinsodiumpools

Figure2:Finiteelementmodelsofnuclearislandinter-connectedbuildingsandvesselsforinvestigationsofbucklingunderseismicforces

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IGC Newsletter

large diameter shell structures. High dimensionalstabilityisrequiredduringoperationaswellasunderearthquake conditions. The structure should havehigh potential to absorb energy which relies onthe high ductility of weldments apart from inherentductility of steel, in case of severe accidents. Themajormanufacturingchallengesof thesestructuresare: the basic plates should not have any defectssuch as laminations, for which high quality controlisessential, largelengthsofweldswhile integrationof individual petals, stringent control on themanufacturing deviations, high quality welds withlowresidualstresstobeachievedwithoutanyheattreatment.Manufactureofthinvessels,suchasmainvessel,safetyvessel,thermalbafflesandinnervesselhavebeencompletedsuccessfully (Figure4).High

qualityweldshavebeenachievedwith insignificantweld repairs, cold forming limiting to < 10% andcloseformtolerancesof 12mm( 0.2%ofradius)are themajorachievements.Thesearepossiblebyadoptingstringentdimensionalcontrolatpetallevel,innovativeweldfitupmethods,andpropersequencemethodology, state-of-art techniques for inspectionandqualitycontrol,numericalsimulationsofformingand welding procedures, innovative mockup trials,lessonslearntfromfeedbackexperiencesofvariousindustries and elaborate technology developmentexercises.

Austenitic stainless steel plate type insulations areprovided in the form of panels around the safetyvessel, to reduce the heat transfer to reactor vault.

Figure3 :Numericalsimulationofmoltencorebubbleexpansionundercoredisruptiveaccident

Figure4:Componentsmanufacturedundertechnologydevelopment

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As these type of insulations are not commerciallyavailable, the same have been designed andfabricated indigenously using 0.1mm thick sheetsstacked to form panels. Dimples are provided toensure precise spacing between the sheets. Themanufacture and assembly of the panels werecompleted overcoming several challenges in viewof thin sheets forming, requirement of uniformemissivity, uniform spacing, formation of dimpleswithout cracks, complicated assembly sequencesover thesafetyvessel. Innovativeexperimentswerecarried out to confirm compliance of thermal andseismicdesignrequirements.

Thereareafewcomponentswhichcallforchallengingmachiningtechniques.Thegridplatetopsthelist.Infact,forFBTR,thegridplateistheonlycomponentwhich has been imported. Machining of largediameterplatesandshellassemblytothespecifiedtight tolerances on dimensions to satisfactorilymeet all the critical functional requirements of thecomponent, nozzle welding with thick intermediateshellwithout distortion, achieving soundand crackfree hard facing on the large diameter (6.7 meter)

annulartracksinbottomplateofgridplateandalsoin the inner surface of sleeves with nickel basedcobalt free hard facingmaterial, heat treatment oflargeaustenitic stainless steel parts at 1320Kwithcontrolledratesofcoolingandheating,assemblyofalargenumberofparts(~14900)meetingtheimportantrequirements on verticality of sleeve assemblies(Ø0.1 mm) and handling without introducing anysaggingduetoselfweightarethechallengesinthemanufacturingtechnology(Figure5).Theconfidenceisraisedthroughelaboratetechnologydevelopmentexercises.

Success of Sodium Cooled Fast Reactor dependsupon the successful operation of mechanismsoperating in sodium. The primary sodium pumps,absorber rod drive mechanisms, fuel handlingsystems are the important mechanisms operatingin sodium. These components which are partiallyimmersedinhightemperatureprimarysodium,haveparts which are required to work in liquid sodiumand mixture of argon-sodium vapour. There arelongslendermechanismsinthesecomponentswithstringentconcentricitybetweentopandbottomends,

Figure5:ManufacturingvariousinternalcomponentsofPFBR

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IGC Newsletter

tobeachievedbymachining,assemblyandwelding.Reliableoperationshouldbeensuredevenwiththemisalignmentbetween theabsorbersubassembliesand the drive mechanisms, caused due tomanufacturingtolerances,deflectionofsupportsandthermal & irradiation bowing. The components aremanufacturedwith several precisionmachinedandfabricatedpartswithclosetolerancestoaccomplishtherequisitesafetyfunctions.

WorldwideSodiumFastReactorexperiencesclearlyindicatethat thesteamgeneratorsgenerallydecidethe plant load factor. The critical aspects in thiscomponentarethechoiceofmaterialsandthekindofweldsbetweentubetotubesheets.Thestateofartmaterial,modified9Cr-1Mosteelwithtightcontrolonchemistry ischosen.Theoverall lengthofabout25meterwitharound550 tubesmakes the fabricationprocessverycomplex.Byadoptingin-borewelding,tube-to-tubesheetjointsarecarriedoutwithstringentacceptance standards on dimensions and weldquality without any lack of penetration & fusion,cracks,undercutsandunacceptableporosities.Themaximumweldthinningislessthanthepermissiblevalueof<0.2mm.Theweldingtechnologyhasbeenmaturedbasedonelaboratetechnologydevelopmentexercisesandmanytrials.

Thein-serviceinspection(ISI)equipmenttomonitortheweldsonthemainvesselandsafetyvesselandalsoan ISI system tomonitor aswell as repair thetube to tubesheet welds of steam generator havebeen developed with indigenous efforts. The mostchallengingitemsinthesystemarethemechanismsand seals that should operate reliably within theinter-space betweenmain vessel and safety vesselat 420K under mild radioactive environment.These are sophisticated components to performthe inspections within very narrow spaces. Thearea to be scanned is very large which needs tobe completed within shortest possible time, sinceit has bearing on the load factor of the plant. Themechanismsarefullycomputercontrolledforremoteoperations, developed on the basis of intelligentalgorithmsextensivelyvalidatedbasedonnumericalsimulationsandelaboratemanufacturingtechnologydevelopmentmethodologies.

The construction of Sodium cooled Fast Reactoralso involves many challenges in civil engineeringdesign and technology. For the first time, the

concept of interconnected buildings has beenadoptedinPFBR.Themainvesselandsafetyvesselare supported independently on the inner andouter walls of reactor vault which is quite complexstructureandcalledforextensiveR&Dinthedesignvalidation as well as mockup trials for ensuringconstructability.Thenuclearislandconsistsofeightbuildings including reactor containment buildingswhich are interconnected and resting on sixmeterthickcommonbaseraft.Thishasbeendesignedtoachieve compact layout giving due considerationsfor maintenance and safety. Many innovativeconstruction methodologies have been followedto proceed with civil construction and mechanicalcomponentserectionconcurrently.

InthesuccessfulmanufacturingofPFBRcomponents,the leading Indian industries such as L&T (Hazira,Powai, Ranoli), BHEL, Walchand Nagar IndustriesLimited (WIL), Godrej, MTAR Hyderabad, KirloskarBrothers Limited (KBL), Gammon India Limited,are involved. Since several industries are involved(Figure 6), the dimensional tolerance requirementsat various interfaces have been clearly identifiedand being resolved successfully adopting robustmechanisms(formationof taskforces, forexample).The confidence on long delivery componentssuch as main vessel, inner vessel, absorber roddrive mechanisms and steam generators on thequalityandtimeschedulehasbeenraised,through

Figure6:IndustriesinvolvedinmanufactureofPFBRcomponents

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Figure7:SuccessfulerectionofsafetyvesselontheinnerwallofreactorvaultinJune2008

extensive manufacturing technology developmentexercisesanda fewcomponentswhichhavebeenmanufactured through the technologydevelopmentexercises.

Transportation of thin shell structures from thesite assembly to the support locations is anotherchallenging activity in the construction. Erection ofvery largedimensionandslendercomponentswithstringentdimensionalaccuracies(atypicaltolerancetobeachievedonhorizontalityoverfifteenmetersis less than 1mm) is themost challenging task.Thishasbeenachievedbyenvisagingandanalysingall possible problems apriory and subsequentlyestablishing systematic solution techniques withextensivemockup trials, incloseco-ordinationwithIGCAR,BHAVINIandindustries.

Our technology development has been completelybackedupbyextensiveR&Dandscience.HenceourtechnologyshouldbeasuccessandPFBRprojectwillbecompletedintimewithstrictadherencetoquality,whichdefinitelygiveshighpride to thenation.Thishas been demonstrated by the successful erectionofsafetyvesselalongwithdelicatethermalinsulationpanelsontheinnerwallofreactorvault.

Wemadeaconsciouseffort toutilize theexpertiseavailable in the academic and research institutionsin addition to the industry for realizing the goalsof our indigenous mission programme. A robustmechanism has been established for effectivelyimplementing the collaborative research projects.Theinteractionwithacademicandresearchinstitutesalso includes participation of students to pursuepostgraduate research at our Centre. To enrichthe collaborative efforts further vocational training

courses andworkshops have been organizedwithfocused themes.Thecontributionshavebeenbothfromtheeminent facultymembersandenthusiasticstudents and someof the contributions have beenoutstanding.OutsourcingR&Dthroughcollaborationshas also helped in generating critical inputs anddevelopment of several centers of excellence.Technologydevelopmentexerciseshavepaved thewayfor incorporatingup-to-datemanufacturingandinspection technologies for manufacture of largeandprecisionengineeredcomponents.Thebenefitsof the close IGCAR-academia-research-industryinteractions will go substantially beyond nuclearenergy and have a wider dimension of societalrelevance.

While acknowledging our own achievements, wehave to remember that, still we have a tough wayto travel to realize our ultimate target of becominga global leader in this technology. To give theconfidence towards this, we have set certainbenchmarks, namely establishing techno-economicviability through sodium cooled fast reactors withmixedoxidefuelandcloseddesignforlonglife(100years),significantreductionofcapitalcostandfuelcyclecost(200GWd/tburnup),metallicfuelwithhighbreedingtoachievedoublingtimelessthantenyearsandconstructionofseriesoflargesizereactors(1000MWe) with co-located fuel cycle adopting megaparkconceptandexploitationof thoriumresourcesthroughFBRs.Thisisthegreatopportunityforustoenhanceoureffortsinmultifolddimensions.

(Baldev Raj)Director, IGCAR

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CoverGasPurificationSystem(CGPS)PilotPlant

PFBR is a pool type fast breeder reactor and

argonisusedasacovergasabovethefreelevel

ofsodium.Incaseoffailureofanyfuelpin,thefission

gases would come out of the clad and will pass

throughthesodiumtothecovergas.Thepresence

of fission gases in the cover gas would raise the

activity level. Since absolute leak tightness of the

covergascouldnotbeensured, it is likely that the

activitywillgetintothereactorcontainmentbuilding.

Inaddition,therewouldbeanincreaseintheamount

ofradioactivitybeingdischargedthroughthestack,

although it would still be lower than permissible.

However,inaccordancewiththeprincipleofALARA

(as low as reasonably achievable) and to ensure

minimum release, it has been decided to treat the

covergastoremovetheradioactivefissiongases.

Activated charcoal has been used for adsorbing

the fission gases in a number of liquid metal

cooled fast breeder reactors. It is well known that

the dynamic adsorption coefficient is higher at

cryogenic temperatures vis-a-vis ambient and

hence, for adsorptionof fissiongasesat cryogenic

temperatures, less amount of activated charcoal

would be required enabling the plant to be easily

accommodated in reactor containmentbuilding. To

aidinthedesignofthecovergaspurificationsystem

forPFBR,apilotplanthasbeensetuptostudythe

different operatingparameters thatwould influence

dynamicadsorptioncoefficient.

Experiments at various temperatures from ambient

(303K)tocryogenic(130K)wereconductedincover

gaspurificationsystempilotplantshowninFigure1.

The system consists mainly of gaseous argon

tank, diaphragm compressor (DC), exchanger-

economiser (contained in cold box-1), liquid

nitrogenbath (contained incoldbox-2), adsorption

column containing activated charcoal (contained

in Cold Box-3), sample injection facility and online

gas chromatograph (OLGC) for analysing the

samples.Theliquidnitrogenbathisusedtocoolthe

recirculatingargon,whichinturncoolstheadsorber

bed.Threeliquidnitrogenstoragetanksareavailable

forthestorageofliquidnitrogen.

Figure1:Flowdiagramofcovergaspurificationsystempilotplant

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The required temperature in the adsorber bed is

achieved by maintaining the pressure and level

in liquid nitrogen bath (cold box-2). The required

flow ratewasachievedby throttling thediaphragm

compressor by-pass valve. After achieving the

required flow rate and temperature in the system,

argon containing 1% xenon was injected into the

mainflowofargonandanonlinegaschromatograph

wasusedtomonitorthexenonconcentrationatthe

outletoftheadsorptioncolumnbed.Oncexenonwas

detected at the outlet, the re-circulationmodewas

switchedovertooncethroughmodetoremovexenon

fromthesystem.Thetotalvolumeofargonpassed

throughtheadsorptioncolumnbetweentheinjection

timeandbreakthroughtimeofxenonasdetectedby

onlinegas chromatograph is used for thedynamic

adsorption coefficient calculations. The argon was

continuouslyventedoutsidethebuildingintheonce

throughmodetilltheanalysisofsamplebyonlinegas

chromatographshowednoxenonconcentration.To

conservethecarriergas(argon),afterthexenonwas

detected in the lastsample line, the temperatureof

thebedwasraisedtoambientbyremovingtheliquid

nitrogen in cold box-2 and nitrogen gas was used

to flushout the remnantxenon.Thebedandother

systemswerethenpurgedusingargontoensurethat

allthenitrogenwasreplacedandtheunitwasready

forthenextexperiment.

Experiments to determine the dynamic adsorption

coefficient of indigenous activated charcoal were

carriedout fromambient temperature to130Kand

the data used to compute the amount of charcoal

required to obtain a decontamination factor of

104 as shown in Figure 2. This Figure also shows

the charcoal amounts required as computed by

extrapolating the laboratory scale experiments

between 258 K and 313 K conducted earlier in

ChemistryGroup.Thedynamicadsorptioncoefficient

valuesobtainedinbothexperimentsatnearambient

temperatures agree within experimental error.

However, thesteep increase indynamicadsorption

coefficient with decreasing temperature expected

basedonlaboratoryscaleexperimentsbetween258

K and 313K is not observed during the pilot plant

experiments

Based on the experimental data obtained from the

pilot plant, design of the PFBR adsorber bed was

carried out. This is the only system planned to be

operated in PFBR at cryogenic temperatures. The

experiencewiththeoperationofpilotplanthasgiven

confidencetothedesignofasimilarsystemforPFBR.

(Reported by B. Muralidharan and colleagues*)

*Collaborative work between colleagues of

FRTG & CG

Figure2:WeightofactivatedcharcoalrequiredforPFBR

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Amulti-purpose parallel high-performancecomputing cluster has been built using state-

of-the-artcomponentsatComputerDivision,IGCARto cater to the diverse computational requirementsof the users. With significant improvements in theperformanceofPCServersandnetworkingdevices,buildinghighperformancecomputingclusterusingthe commodity-off-the shelf components is aneconomical approach to achieve supercomputingcapabilities.

ClusterConfiguration

The parallel super computing cluster comprisesof 128 compute nodes and a management nodeinterconnectedbyhigh-performance infinibandandgigabitnetworks.Eachclusternode ispoweredbydual-processor, quad-core 64-bit latest Intel Xeonprocessor with the clock speed of 3.16GHz. Theclusterhas1024processorcoreswithoneterrabyteofdistributedmemory.

Themanagement/masternode is theheadnodeofthe cluster which is used for cluster administrationandprovidinguserinterfaceforjobsubmissionandmanagement. The compute nodes are the clusternodeswhere theusers’ jobsactually run.Theyarehighlyoptimizedtoexecutetheparallelcodesofthe

users.Inaddition,aconsoleserverisconfiguredforhardwaremanagementofallcomputenodes.

InterconnectNetworks

Toexploit the fullpotentialof thehighperformancecomputingclusterwithincreasedprocessorspeeds,itisessentialtohavehigh-performanceinterconnectsbetweenclusternodes.Infinibandarchitectureisanindustry standard, channel-based, switched fabric,interconnectarchitectureforservers.Itprovidesveryhighbandwidthand low latency forcommunicationandbetter scalability to large number of nodes. Ituseslow-levelremotedirectmemoryaccess(RDMA)protocol to reduce the application latency andprocessoroverhead.

Thisclustersystemhasthreeinterconnectnetworks.The primary network meant for inter-processorcommunication (IPC) is based on the Infinibandarchitecture. The Infiniband switch supports upto144 DDR 4X ports each with speed of 20 Gbps.The Administration network meant for clustermanagement and monitoring is based on 1GbpsGigabitEthernet.TheManagementnetworkmeantforhardwareremotemanagementandconsoleaccessof nodes using intelligent platform managementinterfaceisbasedongigabitethernet.IPMIprovides

Figure1:1024CorehighperformancecomputingclusteratIGCAR

AParallelClusterSupercomputeratIGCAR

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remote access, monitoring, and control functionsforhardwarewithoutusingkeyboardvideomonitorswitchesandcomplexwiring.

StorageSystem

Theclusterhasfourstoragenodeseachwith6terrabyteofdiskcapacity.Thestoragenodesarebasedondual-coreIntelXeonProcessorandredundantarrayof inexpensivediscs(level5) isconfiguredoneachnode toovercomesingle-disk failures.GlusterFS,ascalableclustered filesystem isconfigured tounifythe disk storage across the four storage bricksover Infiniband interconnect giving an aggregatedraw capacity of 24 TB. Also GlusterFS has beenconfigured with NUFA scheduler to aggregate alllocal disks in the compute nodes into one largestoragediskof20TBcapacitytogivethelocalnodemorepriorityforfilecreationoverothernodesduringjobexecution.

AutomatedTapeLibrary

Tomeet the largedatabackup requirementsof theclusterstorage,anautomatedtapelibraryhasbeeninstalledwith4LTO-Gen3drivesand48mediaslotstobackupupto38.4TBofcompresseddatausing800GBLTO-3Tapes.Abackupserverissetupandprogrammed to take periodic backups of the userdata.

GlusterHPCSoftwaresuite

Advanced cluster distribution software (Gluster)

designed for massive scalability and performancehasbeen installed and configured for building andmanagingthishigh-performancecomputingcluster.It provides a clustering development platformcomprising OS provisioner, parallel MPI libraries,compilers, resource and jobmanagers, distributedclustermonitoring toolsetc togiveclientsaunifiedsystemviewofthemassivelyparallelcluster.

PerformanceBenchmarking

Theperformanceoftheclusterismeasuredintermsof number of floating-point operations per second(GigaFLOPS/TeraFLOPS). The industry-standardhigh-performance linpack(HPL) isusedtoevaluatethe parallel cluster performance. A sustainedperformance of 9.5 TFLOPS is achieved after finetuning various system factors and benchmarkingparameters.

IntelligentPowerManagementandCooling

Intelligent power distribution units (IPDUs) havebeen installed with advanced console server toenable remote power control and real-time currentmonitoringofclusternodesusingwebuserinterface.The twin-noded cluster systems in 1unit formfactor are compactly housed in five 42unit rackswith efficient cooling arrangement made throughprecisionair-conditioning(PAC)system.

Applications

This parallel supercomputing cluster is designedto meet the large-scale numerical computingrequirements of IGCAR Scientists and Engineers.High computing intensive scientific applications inthe areas of computational molecular dynamics,material modeling, reactor core calculations andsafety analysis, weathermodeling and engineeringapplications in the area of finite element analysis,computational fluid dynamics can effectively makeuse of the cluster to vastly reduce their run times.The system has been successfully commissionedandisbeingusedextensively.

(Reported by S. Rajeswari and colleagues, Computer Division, EIG)

Figure2:Architectureofhighperformancecomputingcluster

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Phytoplankton, the unicellular microscopic form of

plant,isthedominantfloralcomponentinthemarine

environment. They contain thepigments of various

kinds that enable them to carry on photosynthesis

and thus giving them the identification of plant.

Thesehighlysuccessfulphotosyntheticmicroscopic

plants, responsible for ~90% of the primary

production in the oceans and~40% of the global

primaryproduction,undergoesseasonalpopulation

explosions called phytoplankton blooms. Of the

5,000knownphytoplanktersonlyabout300species

are bloom forming (when their concentration

exceeds5X105cellsl-1)outofwhichabout80species

forms the harmful algal bloom (HAB). The bloom

phenomenonthatcontainstoxinsorhavingnegative

impacts is generally termed as “Harmful Algal

Bloom”(HAB).Thisspectacularnaturalphenomenon

is generally known as ‘red tide’ or ‘green tide’ or

‘browntide’accordingtothephytoplanktonspecies

involved.Duringthisprocessofrapidphytoplankton

proliferation various toxic compounds are released

as extra cellular productswhich can kill the higher

organisms like zooplankton, shellfishes, fishes,

birds,marinemammalsandhuman that feedupon

them either directly or indirectly. Toxins released

could affect the central nervous system causing

temporaryorpermanentmemoryloss,paralysisetc.

whilesomeofthetoxinsaffecttherespiratorysystem

causing suffocation, malfunctioning of lungs etc.

There isan increase in frequencyofphytoplankton

bloom appearances in the coastal environment

in recent times, believed to be due to alteration of

coastalhabitatscausedbyanthropogenicinfluences

particularly eutrophication (increase in nutrient

content).

Bloom of Trichodesmium erythraeum and its impact on water quality and plankton community structure in the coastal waters of Kalpakkam

Young Officer’s FORUM

Trichodesmium erythraeum, a marine cyano-

bacterium,isanimportantnitrogen-fixerinthesea.It

isoneofthecommonbloom-formingspeciesfound

intropicalandsub-tropicalwaters,particularlyinthe

easterntropicalPacificandArabianSea,contributing

>30%ofalgalbloomsoftheworld.Estimatedglobal

nitrogenfixationbyTrichodesmiumbloom(~42Tg

Nyr-1) and during non-bloom conditions (~ 20 Tg

N yr-1) suggests that it is likely to be the dominant

organism in the global ocean nitrogen budget.

Trichodesmium normally occurs in macroscopic

bundles or colonies and blooms formed by them

are often extremely patchy. The patchy spatial

distributionofplanktonbloomsisusuallyconnected

tothephysicalvariabilityofthewaterbody.

Blooming of phytoplankton particularly by

Trichodesmium (cyanobacteria) generally occurs

duringFebruarytoMay(pre-monsoon)inthecoastal

watersadjoining India.Reports in literatureshowed

frequent occurrence of Trichodesmium blooms in

Indianwaters,however,itoccurredmorefrequentlyin

thewestcoastascomparedtoeastcoast.Equipped

withbuoyancyregulatinggasvesiclesandnitrogen

fixation enzymes, Trichodesmium is regarded as

anorganismwell adapted to stratified, oligotrophic

conditions.Thus,Trichodesmiumabundanceshould

behighinboundarycurrentsanddecreasetowards

thecoastwherenitrogenousnutrientsbecomemore

available.Tothebestofourknowledgefromall the

availablereportsonTrichodesmiumbloomfromeast

andwest coast of India, they have been observed

farawayfromthecoast(>30km).Thisappearsto

be the first report of Trichodesmium bloom which

wassightednearthecoast~500minsidetheseaat

Shri Ajit Kumar Mohanty obtained his Masters degree in Marine Sciences (Marine Biology) from Department of Marine Sciences, Berhampur University, Orissa in 2004. He joined as JRF in an IGCAR-ANNA UNIVERSITY collaborative project in 2005. He has published seventeen national and international journal papers, two book chapters and has presented nine papers in conferences. He joined IGCAR as Scientific Officer (SO/C) in August 2008 and presently working on coastal ecology in Environmental and Industrial Safety Section, Safety Group.

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IGC Newsletter

Kalpakkamcoastalwaters.Duringaregularcoastal

watermonitoringprogram,aprominentdiscolouration

ofthesurfacewaterwasnoticedinthecoastalwaters

ofKalpakkamon19thFebruary2008.Thebloomwas

very dense and created yellowish-green coloured

streaks(Figure1a)ofabout4to5mwidthand10-20m

long.Theentirebloomextendedtoseveralkilometers

longalongthecoast.Thephytoplanktonresponsible

for discolouration was identified as Trichodesmium

erythraeum (Figure 1b & 1c). Though, bloom of

Noctiluca scintillans and Asterionella glacialis have

beenobserved in thecoastalwatersofKalpakkam,

therehasbeennoreportofbloombyTrichodesmium

erythraeum.Thispromptedustocloselymonitorthe

coastalwaterswithrespecttochemicalandbiological

characteristicsduringthebloomperiod.Theacumen

in investigating Trichodesmium bloom appearance

anddistributionstems fromtherecent reportabout

itsharmfulnaturetocoastalfishandshellfishfauna

havingsocialandeconomicalconnotations.Surface

water sampleswere collected twicedaily (between

9to10AMand4to5PMduringthebloomperiod

(19thto23rdFebruary),whereas,duringpre-andpost-

bloomperiodssampleswerecollectedweeklyinthe

morninghours.

Hydrography

Values of pH did not show much variation and

rangedfrom8.0-8.2.Itdidnotshowanycorrelation

to bloom appearance and remained almost stable

during pre-bloom, bloom and post-bloom periods.

The surface water temperature ranged from 27.2-

32.6oC.Comparativelyhightemperaturewasnoticed

during the afternoon collections. Temperature has

long been recognized as an important factor that

controlsTrichodesmium abundance.Cyanobacteria

require relatively high temperature for its optimum

growthcomparedtootherphytoplankton.Thebloom

was more predominant during afternoon period

(31.2-32.6 oC) when the temperature was relatively

highascomparedtomorningperiod(28.4-28.7oC),

signifyingthepositiveroleoftemperatureinblooming

ofthisspecies.

Salinity values ranged from 31.58-33.18 psu.

Stable salinity condition close to typical value of

32psu and above is known to support thegrowth

andabundanceofTrichodesmium. It iswell known

Figure1:DiscolourationofcoastalwaterofKalpakkambyTrichodesmiumerythraeumbloompatches(a);Bundlesformedbytrichomes(c);magnifiedviewoftrichome(b)

that the cyanobacterium is a stenohaline formwith

optimum growth at > 33 psu and can’t survive in

lowsalinities.Dissolvedoxygen(DO)concentration

ranged from6.2 - 8.1mg l-1 (Figure2). The lowest

andthehighestdissolvedoxygenconcentrationwas

observedduring thepost-bloomandbloomperiod

respectively. Marginally high dissolved oxygen

contentwasnoticedduringthebloomcomparedto

thepre-andpost-bloomperiod.Thiscouldbedue

to photosynthetic release of oxygen by the dense

algalbiomass.Asexpected relatively lowdissolved

oxygenvalueswereobservedduring thepost-peak

bloomperiod,indicatingthatsomeofthecellsarein

decayingstage.

Nutrients

Nitrate is considered to be the most stable

nitrogenousnutrientresponsibleforthemetabolism

and growth of phytoplankters. It ranged from 0.17

– 6.79 mol l-1, the highest value being observed

during thepre-bloomperiodand the lowestduring

the bloom (Figure 2). Relatively low nitrate levels,

continuous patches with yellowish green colour

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IGC Newsletter

and increased primary production (as reflected in

chlorophyll-a values) coinciding with peak bloom

period sufficiently indicated that the bloom was in

growth phase. Reduction in nitrate concentration

duringTrichodesmiumbloomhasalsobeenreported

earlier.However,ammoniavaluesweresignificantly

high during the bloom, especially on the day of

highestcelldensity,comparedtothepre-andpost

bloom observations (Figure 2), which ranged from

0.22-284.36mol l-1. This couldbeascribed to the

diazotrophicnatureofTrichodesmium,whichhasthe

abilitytoproduceammoniumthroughtheprocessof

nitrogenfixation.Asaresultoftheaboveprocess,the

totalnitrogen(TN)wasalsoveryhigh(392.80moll-1)

on the peak bloom day (Figure 2). Surprisingly,

perusalofaplethoraofliteratureavailablefromIndian

coastsrevealedthatammoniaconcentrationduring

Trichodesmiumbloomhasrarelybeenestimatedor

reported.Duringthepresentobservation,inspiteof

prevalenceofveryhighammoniacontent,therewas

nofishmortalitywhichcouldbeduetopersistence

of the bloom for a short period and possibility of

its drifting away from the shore. Had it continued

for extended period its social and economical

connotationswouldhavebeencolossal.

Phosphate levels ranged from 0.09 mol l-1 (pre-

bloom)to1.51moll-1(bloom)(Figure2).Anabrupt

increase in phosphate content was encountered

on thedayofhighestcelldensitycompared to the

rest. This could be due to the extracellular release

anddecompositionofplankton.Moreover,bacterial

liberationofphosphate fromdeadorganismscould

alsoberesponsibleforenhancedlevelsofphosphate

during blooms. Total phosphorus (TP) values also

showed a similar trend to that of phosphate and

ranged from 0.14-2.83 mol l-1 (Figure 2). Silicate

valuesrangedfrom7.58–16.28moll-1andremained

almost stableduring the studyperiod indicating its

non-utilizationbythisspecies.

Phytoplankton community structure

Results showed that the bloom constituted both

individualtrichomesandcolonialformsalthoughthe

later dominated to the extent of 80-90%.Generally

thetrichomelengthvariedfrom300-1200m.Unlike

the west coast of India, wherein phytoplankton

bloom is generally observed during the beginning

of southwest monsoon period (May-September),

Figure2:Variationsinphysico-chemicalpropertiesandChlorophyll-ainthecoastalwatersofKalpakkamduringappearanceofTrichodesmiumerythraeumbloom

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IGC Newsletter

was found tobe thehighest, reported todate from

Indianwaters.

Communitystructureofphytoplanktonshowed that

thenumberofspeciesonasingleobservationvaried

between seven species (on the day of highest cell

count)andtwentyfourduringthepost-bloomperiod.

Asexpectedrelatively lessnumberofspecieswere

found during the bloom as compared to pre- and

post-bloomperiods.Interestingly,numberofspecies

were relatively lessduring theafternooncollections

on all the occasions as compared to the morning

collections.Thisagainstrengthenedthe theory that

phytoplankton such as Trichodesmium erythraeum,

whichcantoleraterelativelyhighamountofirradiance

remained during afternoon as compared to other

species.

Adistinctvariationinallthethreediversityindiceswas

noticedduringthestudyperiod(Figure3).Relatively

high values of all the indices during the pre- and

post-bloomperiodsshowed that thephytoplankton

communitywasfloristicallyrichduringtheseperiods.

Asignificantdecreaseindiversityindicesduringpeak

bloomperiodcouldbeattributedtothedominanceof

Trichodesmium.

Photosyntheticpigment

Chlorophyll-a, the chief photosynthetic pigment of

autotrophs,showedwidevariationsandrangedfrom

1.21-42.15mg/m-3(Figure3).Highestconcentration

coincided with the highest cell density. The peak

valueofthispigmentwasabouttwentytimeshigher

than the normal values, an indicative of blooming

situation.

Appearance of Trichodesmium erythraeum, an

unusual phenomenon in the neritic region (coastal

waters of Kalpakkam) points to the need for

continuousmonitoring coastal ecosystem on long-

term basis to comprehend the cause of bloom

appearanceanditsecologicalsignificance.

(Reported by Shri Ajit Kumar Mohanty and colleagues

Environmental and Industrial Safety Section

Safety Group)

thepresentbloomwasobservedduring theendof

northeastmonsoonperiod.Thepresentobservation

coincided with the transition period during which

thecoastalwatercurrentwasabouttochangefrom

southerlytonortherlydirection.Thisisthelullperiod

during which the lowest magnitude of current is

observedatthislocation.Bloomshavebeenknown

tobeconspicuousincalmconditions,whichassist

the trichomes to formdenseraftson thesurfaceof

theseaashasbeenobservedduringthisstudy.

Phytoplanktoncommunityshowedadistinctvariation

initsqualitativeaswellasquantitativecharacteristics.

In total sixty nine species of phytoplankton were

identified which comprised of sixty two diatoms,

five dinoflagellates, one silicoflagellatte and the

cyanobacteria, Trichodesmium erythraeum. The

population density of phytoplankters ranged from

1.23x105and2.94x107cellsl-1(Figure3)showing

morethantwoorderincreaseduringthepeakbloom

period.Thelowestcelldensitywasobservedduring

post-bloom period. Surprisingly, Trichodesmium

was found only during the bloom period from 19th

to23rdFebruary2008andwastotallyabsentduring

the pre- and post-bloom period. Contribution of

Trichodesmium to the total cell count ranged from

7.79%(1.10x104cellsl-1)to97.01%(2.88x107cellsl-1).

ItisknownthatTrichodesmiumismoreabundantin

subsurfacelayers(20-30m)ascomparedtosurface

water.Though, thepresentbloomwasobserved in

coastalwaterswithmuch lowerdepth (~8meter),

however,bottomsamples(~7m)didnotindicateits

presence. The observed density of Trichodesmium

Figure3:Variationsinphytoplanktoncommunitystructureanddiversityindicesduringthebloom

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IGC Newsletter

Figure2:RelativeconcentrationprofilesofPd(redcircles)andSi(bluecircles)atselectedannealingtemperaturesdeducedfromRBSresults

Palladium was electron beam evaporated on tosilicon substrate to form Pd(100 nm)/Si thin filmjunction and annealed in the temperature range of300-1070K.Figure1showstheglancingincidenceX-ray diffraction (GIXRD) spectra of Pd/Si samplesat selected annealing temperatures. Only purepalladium peaks are observed for initial annealingtemperaturesandbeyond570K,Pd2Sipeaksaloneare seen and no other silicide is observed. Thus,in the temperaturerangeof570-1070K,onlyPd2Siphaseispresent.

Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS)measurements were carried out on these samplesandthickness,compositionoftheover-layerandtheelementalconcentrationprofileswerededucedfrom

Dr. S. Abhaya completed her M.Sc (Physics) degree from Department of Nuclear Physics, University of Madras, Chennai in 2000. She had then joined IGCAR as a research fellow and carried out her doctoral studies during 2001-2006 and obtained her Ph.D degree in 2007 from University of Madras. She was selected for the K.S Krishnan Research fellowship in the year 2007 and posted at IGCAR. Upon successful completion of the fellowship, she joined in January 2009 as Scientific Officer (SO/D) in Materials Science Group, IGCAR. She has received best poster award for one of her conference papers.

Metalsilicidesareformedasaresultofchemicalreactionbetweenmetalandsiliconatomsacross

theinterfaceinametal-siliconsystem.Theadventofmetalsilicides insilicon technologyhaspavedwayforreliableohmiccontacts,Schottkybarriers,whichhave potential applications in smaller and efficientelectronicdevices.Sincemetal silicide formation isbasicallydrivenbythediffusionofmetalorsiliconorbothacrosstheinterface,pointdefectsareinjectedat the interface. Thus, there is a complex interplaybetweendefectsanddiffusionintheformationofmetalsilicidesandtheapplicationofvariousexperimentaltechniques canprovide comprehensive informationon these aspects. Detailed experimental studieshave been carried out on a variety ofmetal/siliconthin filmssystemsandthepresentarticlehighlightsthesalientresultsobtainedinPd/Sisystem.

Young Researcher’s FORUM

Experimental Investigation of Defects and Diffusion During Silicidation in Metal-Silicon Systems

Figure1:GIXRDspectraofPd/Siatselectedannealingtemperatures

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IGC Newsletter

Figure 3: AES deduced relative surface concentrations of Pd (redcircles) and Si (blue circles) as a function of annealingtemperature

thebackscatteringspectra,asshowninFigure2.At300K, thepalladiumconcentration is 100at%andthatofsiliconis0at%uptoabout100nmimplyingthatthePd/Siinterfaceislocatedat~100nm.At470K,whilethereisnosilicidephaseformation,thereisnoticeableinterfacialmixing.Theinterfacehasshiftedtohigherdepthvalueswiththesiliconprofilegoingdeep into palladium profile suggesting that siliconisthefasterdiffusingspeciesandisresponsibleforPd2Siformation.Between570Kand870K,therelativeconcentrationofpalladiumandsiliconismaintainedas per the stoichiometric values of palladium andsilicon in Pd2Si. The thickness of the Pd2Si layeris deduced to be ~165 nm. Beyond 1070K, theconcentrationishigherthanthestoichiometricvalueof silicon in Pd2Si. Since Pd2Si is the only phasepresent, the increase in silicon concentration isattributedtothepresenceofsiliconenrichedPd2Si.The enrichment is due to silicon diffusing from thesubstrateregiontothesilicideregion.

Since silicon segregation on top-surface is tobe confirmed, surface sensitive auger electronspectroscopy(AES)measurementswerecarriedouton these samples. Differential Auger spectra wererecordedforalltheannealingtemperatures.Figure3shows the relative concentrationsof palladiumandsilicondeducedfromthedifferentialAugerspectrumasafunctionofannealingtemperature.

Figure4:VariationofSversus.EpcurvesforPd/Sisamplesannealedatvarioustemperatures(shownonleft).TheverticaldashedlineshowsthelocationoftheoriginalPd/Siinterface.S-parametervaluesofbulkPdandSisamplesareshownbyhorizontaldashedlines.NormalizedS-parameter(shownonright)of(i)Interfaciallayerand(ii)SisubstrateatEp=8.8keVand20keVrespectively.Thedashedlinesthroughthedatapointsareaguidetotheeye.

From300 to470K,onlypalladium isobserved.At570 K, the relative concentration of palladium is~70at%andthatofsiliconis~30at%correspondingto stoichiometric values of palladiumand silicon inPd2Si, which is attributed to Pd2Si formation. Theconcentration of palladium and silicon remainsunchanged up to 870 K indicating the presenceof Pd2Si phase alone. Beyond 870 K, the relativeconcentration of silicon increases above thestoichiometricvalueofsiliconinPd2Si.SinceGIXRDmeasurementconfirmsthatPd2Siphase is theonlyphasepresent,theincreaseinsiliconconcentrationisonlyduetosegregationofsilicononPd2Sisurfaceconsequent to diffusion of silicon from substrateregiontoPd2Siregion.

(a) (b)

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IGC Newsletter

Figure5:SchematicofthePd/Sisystematvarioustemperaturestages

Since, silicon is fastdiffusing intopalladium regionto form the silicide, there should be productionof vacancy-defects at the interface and in siliconsubstrateregions.Soastoinvestigatethepresenceof vacancy-defects, depth-resolved positron beammeasurements have been carried out. From thesemeasurements, a defect-sensitive S-parameter hasbeen deduced. Corresponding to the occurrenceofvacancy-defects,S-parameter increasesat thosedepth regions. Figure 4 shows the experimental Sversus Ep curves for Pd/Si samples. Theminimumvalueof theS-parameteraround3keVisattributedto positron annihilation in palladiumover-layer andthesaturationS-parameter valueathigherpositronenergies is attributed to positron annihilation in Sisubstrate.At570Kwherepalladiumsilicide(Pd2Si)isformedasshownbyGIXRDstudies,theS-parameteroftheoverlayerincreases.Thisshowsthesensitivityof the technique tophase transformations.Beyond870K, there isasuddenincrease inSvs.Epcurvei.e., the S-parameter values corresponding tosurface, palladium over-layer, Pd/Si interface andsiliconsubstratearehigherandstayconstantupto1070K.InlightoftheaboveAESresult,theobservedchange in S-parameter of the over-layer beyond870KisattributedtothepresenceofsiliconenrichedPd2Siregion.

So as to bring out the evidence for presence ofvacancy defects across the interface and thesilicon regions, the normalized S-parameter valuescorresponding to the interface and the siliconregionhavebeenplottedasafunctionofannealingtemperatureasshowninFigure4.Thenormalizationfor the interfaceand thesubstratehavebeendonewith respect to thecorrespondingVEPFITdeducedS-parametervaluesat570K,whichistheformationtemperatureofPd2Si. It isseen that thenormalizedS-parameter value corresponding to the interfacegradually increases with annealing temperatureand reaches a value of 1.055±0.0015 by 1070 K.Normalized S-parameter value corresponding tothe silicon substrate region stays at ~ 1.00 up toabout 770 K and increases to 1.0227±0.0015 by1070 K. The normalized S-parameter value above1.00 indicates theexistenceof vacancydefects.Toestimatethesizeofthevacancydefectsgeneratedattheinterface,thepresentS-parametervalues(Figure4)werecomparedwith thatofab-initiocalculationsofS-parameters incrystallinesilicon. It isseen thatthe normalized S-parameter in the range of 1.022–1.045 isattributed to thepresenceofdivacancies.

The larger S-parameter values at the interfacialregion thanat the substrate regionare ascribed tothepresenceof largerconcentrationofdivacanciesthan in thesiliconsubstrate region. In viewof theirhighmobility,divacanciesproducedattheinterface,diffuseintosiliconregionbeyond870K.ThisisthefirstdirectexperimentalevidencetowardsproductionofdivacanciesduetoenhancedsilicondiffusionfromsiliconregiontoPd2Siregionbeyond870Kandthediffusionofthesedefectsfrominterfacetosubstrateregionathigherannealingtemperatures.

Figure5 summarizes the results obtained in Pd/Si systemas a consequenceof thermal annealing.During the formation of Pd2Si, silicon is the fastdiffusing speciesand this is confirmedby theRBSconcentration profiles of palladium and siliconwhichshowstailingofsilicon intopalladiumacrossthe interface. At 570 K, Pd2Si phase is formed.Thisphase transformation ispickedupbypositronannihilationmeasurementswhichshowanincreaseinS-parametercorrespondingtotheover-layer.GIXRD,RBSandAESmeasurementsalsoshowsignaturesduetoformationofPd2Siatthistemperature.Beyond870 K, while positron annihilation measurementsshow signatures of production of vacancy defectsacross Pd2Si/Si interface consequent to enhanceddiffusion of silicon from substrate to silicide, AESshowssegregationof silicononPd2Si surface.Thepresent experimental studies clearly bring out theimportance of using complementary techniques toobtain a comprehensive picture on the silicidationbehaviorofmetal-siliconsystems.

(Reported by Dr. S. Abhaya, Materials Physics Division, Materials Science Group)

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IGC Newsletter

Conference/Meeting Highlights

DAE-BRNS Theme Meeting on Materials for Fast Breeder and Fusion Reactor Applications

June 26, 2009

AonedayThemeMeetingon“MaterialsforFastBreederandFusionReactorApplications”wasorganizedjointlybyIndiraGandhiCentreforAtomicResearch,IndianInstituteMetals-KalpakkamChapter,andBoardofResearchinNuclearSciencesonJune26,2009atConventionCentre,Anupuram,aspartofthebirthcentenarycelebrationsofDr.HomiBhabha, fatherof India’snuclearpowerprogramme.Dr.BaldevRaj,Director, IGCAR inauguratedthethememeetingandemphasizedtheimportanceofsynergyamongvariousinstitutionsinthecountryinthefissionandfusionreactorresearchprograms.Dr.P.R.VasudevRao,Director,Chemistry,MetallurgyandMaterialsGroupspokeaboutthegenesisofthethememeeting.Thekeynotelectureon“Development,CharacterizationandPerformanceofSodiumCooledFastBreederReactorandFusionReactorMaterials”wasdeliveredbyDr.K.BhanuSankaraRao,AssociateDirector,MDCGandHead,MechanicalMetallurgyDivision.Thethememeetingwasconductedinthreetechnicalsessionsdevotedtoa)Design,SelectionandProductionMaterialsforFBRsb)MechanicalBehaviourofStructuralMaterialsandc)MaterialsforFusionReactorSystems.About60outstationdelegatesand90delegatesfromIGCARparticipatedinthetechnicaldeliberations.LeadingexpertsfromIGCAR,MIDHANI,NuclearFuelComplex,InternationalAdvancedResearchCentreforPowderMetallurgyandNewMaterials,DefenseMetallurgicalResearchLaboratory, InstituteforPlasmaResearchandBARCpresentedinvitedpapers.

Dr.BaldevRaj,Director,IGCARwithotherdignitariesduringtheinauguration

IAEA consultancy meetingsMay25-29,2009

TwoIAEAConsultancymeetingswereheldatIGCAR,KalpakkamduringMay25-29,2009.OnemeetingchairedbyShriH.S.Kamath,Director,NuclearFuelsGroup,BARCreviewedthedocumenton“Statusandtendsofuraniumplutoniummixedoxide,carbide,nitrideandmetallicfuelsforsodiumcooledfastreactors-fabrication,propertiesandirradiationbehaviour”andtheonechairedbyDr.P.R.VasudevaRao,Director,Chemistry,MetallurgyandMaterialsGroups,IGCARreviewedthedocumenton“BackendoftheFastReactorFuelCycle:StatusandPerspectives”.Dr. H.P. Nawada, Section Officer, Nuclear Fuel Cycle Section, IAEA was the Scientific Secretary for the twomeetings.TheparticipantsofthemeetingsincludedDr.MichelMasson,CEA,France,Dr.MikhailKormilitsyn,RIAR,RussiaandDr.TomozoKoyama,JAEA,Japan(expertsforthedocumentonbackendfuelcycle)andDr.HoJinRyu,Korea(expertforthedocumentonnuclearfuelfabrication),besidesmanyspecialistsintheseareasfromBARCandIGCAR.ThereviewandfinalizationofthedocumentsinthemeetingsinvolvedintensediscussionsonthecurrentstatusofthedevelopmentsintheseareasandthusthemeetingsprovidedavaluableplatformforthescientistsofDAEtoexchangetheirviewswithinternationalexpertsinadditiontothecontributiontothedocument.

ShriS.C.ChetalDirector,REG,Dr.P.R.VasudevaRaoDirector,CG&MMGandDr.P.Chellapandi,Director,SGwithotherparticipantsatIAEAConsultancymeeting

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IGC Newsletter

AteamfromGreatLakesInstituteofManagement,ManamaiVillage,KancheepuramDistrictvisitedtheCentreon22June,2009toholddiscussionswithDr.BaldevRaj,DistinguishedScientistandDirector,IGCARandotherseniorcolleaguesoftheCentre.TheteamcomprisedofProf.S.Sriram,ExecutiveDirector,Prof.T.N.Swaminathan,Director, External relations, Prof. R.S. Veeravalli, Director, Corporate Initiatives and ExecutiveMBA, Prof.M.J.Xavier,Director,Dr.KrishnaRam,PlacementDirector,ShriV.Sankaran,Director,andShriS.Prabhakar.Dr.BaldevRaj, Director, IGCAR, Shri S.C. Chetal, Director, REG, Dr. P. Swaminathan, Director, EIG, Shri K.Manoharan,DeputyDirector,GSO,Dr.A.Vijaya,MedicalSuperintendent,DAEHospitalandDr.M.SaiBaba,Head,S&HRPS&SIRDweretheparticipantsfromIGCAR.ShriPrabhatKumar,ProjectDirector,BHAVINIalsoparticipatedinthemeeting.ThedeliberationsstartedwiththeintroductoryremarksbyDr.BaldevRaj,Director,IGCAR,whogavehisperspectivesonpossibleareasofcooperationbetweenIGCARandGreatlakesInstitutetowardsenvisagingthedevelopmentofneighbourhood.Prof.SriramandProf.Veeravallialsomadepresentations.TheteamvisitedFastBreederTestReactor.

TeamfromGreatLakesInstituteofManagementwithDr.BaldevRaj,Director,IGCAR

Forthcoming Meetings / Conferences

AsapartofthebirthcentenarycelebrationsofHomiJehangir Bhabha, a Workshop on Nuclear PowerPlant Life Management (Won-PLiM 2009) is beingorganized by IGCAR, Kalapkkam, during October6-9,2009.Themainobjectiveofthemeetingistobring together scientists, engineers andmanagersworking in the interdisciplinary science andtechnologyofPLiMprogrammesofNPPs,enabling

Workshop on Nuclear Power Plant Life Management (Won-PLiM 2009)October 6-9, 2009

• Ageingmanagement,in-serviceinspection,riskanalysis,lifeprediction,refurbishmentandlifeextension

• LifeextensionofPHWR,BWR,PWRandsodiumcooledFBRs

• InternationalscenarioandpracticeonlifemanagementofNPPs

• Classificationofcomponentsforageingmanagement• Ageingmanagementofmetallicmaterials,longterm

properties,damagemechanism,fracturemechanics,mitigationstrategies,newmaterials,materialsmodeling

• Ageingmanagementofnon-metallicstructuresandcomponentsincludingconcrete

• Ageingmanagementofcablesandinstrumentation• Issuesrelatedtosafetyupgradationandredundancy• Regulatoryguidelinesandlicensingrenewalprocedures• Wastestorageanddisposalduringextendedperiodsof

plantlife• Economicsofnuclearplantlifemanagement• Publicacceptance• Internationalcooperationinresearchanddevelopment

programmes

exchange of technical knowledge and sharing ofexperience.

Scope

DuringWon-PLiM2009,eminentexpertsfromFrance,Hungary,India,SwitzerlandandUSAwouldspeakandsharetheirexperienceonvariousaspectsofPLiMofNPPsincluding

Participation

Participationofengineers,scientistsandmanagersfromnuclearinstallations,researchorganisations,regulatoryagencies,engineeringindustryandacademicinstitutesassociated with nuclear programme is solicited.Deadline for registration of participants for attendingWon-PLiM2009isJuly31,2009.

Address for Correspondence

Dr.T.Jayakumar,Head,NonDestructiveEvaluationDivisionIndiraGandhiCentreforAtomicResearch,Kalpakkam–603102,TN,India,Phone:+914427480232(O);27481333(R)Fax:+9144-27480356,Email:tjk@igcar.gov.in

Visit of Dignitaries

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IGC Newsletter

Forthcoming Meetings / Conferences8th International Conference on Barkhausen Noise and

Micromagnetic Testing (ICBM8) February 11-12, 2010

and Pre-Conference Workshop on Materials Characterization

using NDE Techniques February 10, 2010

8th International Conference on Barkhausen Noiseand Micromagnetic Testing (ICBM8) will be held atIndiraGandhiCentre for AtomicResearch (IGCAR),Kalpakkam, India during February 11-12, 2010. Thepreviousconferenceswereheldin1998atHannover(Germany),1999atNewcastleuponTyne(UK),2001atTampere(Finland),2003atBrescia(Italy),2005atPetten(TheNetherlands)and2007atValenciennnes(France).TheseventhICBMwillbeheldinJuly15-16,2009inAachen,Germany.Scope

Assessment of microstructures both duringmanufacturing and during service life is importantfor ensuring reliable and safe performance ofengineeringcomponents.NonDestructiveEvaluation(NDE)parametersderivedfromB-Hloops,magneticand acoustic Barkhausen noise techniques aresensitive to changes in microstructures and stressdistributions and can provide information almostobtainable by microscopy. These techniques arenowadays becoming inevitable tools for materialsscientistsforcharacterisationofmicrostructuresandresidualstresses.MagneticBarkhausenNoise(MBN)andmicromagnetictestingfindextensiveapplicationsinaerospace,nuclear,defence,marine,transportand

Awards & Honours

Dr. M. Sai Baba,Convenor,Editorial Committee Members:ShriUtpalBorah,Dr.K.Ananthasivan,Dr.K.K.Satpathy,

ShriN.Desigan,ShriS.Varadharajan,Dr.VidyaSundararajan,ShriC.JayakumarandShriJ.DanielChellappa.

PublishedbyScientificInformationResourcesDivision,IGCAR,Kalpakkam-603102

Dr.BaldevRajhasbeenselectedasVice-President,InternationalInstituteofWelding.

HehasbeenappointedasAdjunctProfessorandHonoraryConsularGeneral, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering,MichiganStateUniversity,USA.

powerindustriesasaqualitycontroltoolandalsoforremnantlifeassessmentandlifeextension.MBNandmicromagnetic techniques are gaining acceptabilityinindustriesandseveraladvancesaretakingplaceinthisfascinatingfield.TheobjectiveofICBM8istobringtogether scientists and engineers working in MBNandmicromagneticNDEarea toexchangetechnicalknowledge&experience,toforgecollaborationsandtointeractwithpeers.

Participationfromresearchorganisations,engineeringindustry and academic institutes is invited. Theconference language is english. It is plannedto organize several technical sessions in whichcontributedpapersaswellasinvitedtalksbyleadinginternational experts from various countries will bepresented.ThescopeofICBM8includesalltopicsinMBNandmicromagneticNDEincluding

• Microstructuralcharacterization• Residualstressmeasurements• Damageassessment• Industrial applications including quality control

andinserviceperformanceassessment• Instrumentationandsensordevelopment• Theoreticalmodellinganddataprocessing

Important Dates

Submissionofabstracts August30,2009IntimationofacceptanceofabstractsSeptember15,2009Submissionoffull-textofpapersNovember30,2009Deadlineforregistration December15,2009AdvertisementsinSouvenirDecember15,2009

Address for Correspondence

Dr.T.Jayakumar,Chairman,OrganizingCommittee,ICBM8Head,NonDestructiveEvaluationDivisionIndiraGandhiCentreforAtomicResearchKalpakkam-603102,TN,IndiaPhone:+914427480232(O);27481333(R)Fax:+9144-27480356,Email:ndeevents@igcar.gov.in