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It was designed to have a variable core permitting a variety of experiments. Zerlina was successfully built and attained criticality on 14 January 1961. This totally indigenous reactor was made possible because, apart from the experience the DAE scientists and engineers had acquired from the construction of Apsara and Cirus, Bhabha now had fresh indigenous talent available in house. The Training School The DAE required personnel specialised in various science subjects like physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering subjects like electrical, mechanical, electronics, chemical engineering, metallurgy etc and then these were to work in the highly interdisciplinary field of nuclear power generation and allied technological R&D.

If so much has been achieved through the individual and isolated efforts of a few countries, how much more could be achieved by the combined effort of all.. We have the unique opportunity of giving our knowledge to others for the common good. ” Bhabha’s Historic “Indiscretion” On the face of it, Bhabha’s presidential address was an excellent but typical, opening speech quite suitable for such international gatherings. Yet, there was more to it. His phrases like “knowledge should be freely available and shared”, “It is unreal to believe that security can be ensured by secrecy”, were not merely empty rhetoric.

The Canadian-Indian Reactor Project As mentioned above, by 1956 preparatory work on the Canadian offer for a 40 MW NRX type reactor had begun. There were three basic types of reactors then in operation: 1. light water-enriched uranium type, 2. heavy water-natural uranium type, and 3. graphite moderated type. Bhabha had zeroed in on the heavy water type earlier, as is clear from the fact that he had recommended setting up of heavy water manufacturing plant in his note “On organisation of atomic research in India” way back in April 1948.