This year the Founder's Day lecture was delivered by Dr Placid Rodriguez, Raja Ramanna Fellow, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and former Director, 1GCAR, Kalpakkam, on the topic, "From three decades of nuclear isolation to global leadership in nuclear technology in three decades", he author who had a career-long, four decades of association with the Department of Atomic Energy started the lecture by recalling the heady xciting days of the early years. The growth of the Indian nuclear programme from the early Nehru-Bhabha days to the present has been truly spectacular. Indian Pressurised Heavy Water Reactor Technology can be said to have reached "technical maturity" in recent years. After some early hiccups, not unusual for a new technology, the Fast Breeder Reactor (FBR) programme seems to have taken firm roots. We ;are now a "de facto nuclear weapon state". This has contributed immensely to boost the national pride, morale, prestige and national security.
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