Ravi B. Grover | |
---|---|
Born | |
Nationality | Indian |
Alma mater | Delhi College of Engineering, Indian Institute of Science |
Known for | Indian Nuclear Program |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Mechanical Engineering, Nuclear Engineering |
Institutions | Bhabha Atomic Research Centre Department of Atomic Energy Homi Bhabha National Institute |
Ravi B. Grover is an Indian nuclear scientist and a mechanical engineer. He is the founding vice-chancellor (during initial years he was designated as director equivalent to vice-chancellor) of the Homi Bhabha National Institute, a member of the Atomic Energy Commission, [1] chairman of the Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences, a fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering, [2] and World Academy of Art and Science. [3] He was the president of the Indian Society of Heat and Mass Transfer for the period 2010–2013. He has been awarded Padma Shri by the Government of India in the year 2014.
He retired from his previous position as Principal Adviser, Strategic Planning Group, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), in February 2013. Following retirement, he was appointed to DAE's Homi Bhabha Chair for a period of five years. Concurrently with his position in the DAE, he conceptualized the setting up of Homi Bhabha National Institute and led it from 2005 to 2016. Presently he is Emeritus Professor, Homi Bhabha National Institute. His prior positions include Director of the Knowledge Management Group and Associate Director, Technical Coordination & International Relations Group at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC). [4] He represented BARC training school in the World Nuclear University in 2003.
Ravi B. Grover completed his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the prestigious Delhi College of Engineering in 1970 and joined the staff of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre. He completed a PhD in mechanical engineering from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, in 1982.
He was awarded Dhirubhai Ambani Oration Award by Indian Institute of Chemical Engineers in 2008, Distinguished Alumnus Award by Delhi College of Engineering Alumni Association in 2009, [5] Distinguished Alumnus Award by Indian Institute of Science and Indian Institute of Science Alumni Association in 2011. [6] In 2016, Delhi college of Engineering Alumni Association bestowed him with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
During the first 25 years of his career, Dr. Grover worked as a nuclear engineer and specialized in thermal hydraulics. He worked on fluid to fluid modeling techniques for two-phase flows, reactor fuel and core thermal hydraulics, safety analysis, and process design of reactor systems and equipment. Post-1996, he took up managerial responsibilities including technology transfer, human resource development, and extramural funding.
On 15 January 2013, the Prime Minister of India conferred on him the Lifetime Achievement Award for the year 2011 for his outstanding contributions in the field of nuclear engineering, towards the national initiative to open international civil nuclear trade, further development of the framework for the governance of nuclear power and human resource development. The citation for the award stated, "During a career spanning four decades, Dr. Grover has distinguished himself as an academic, research and development engineer and a science administrator. His knowledge of nuclear engineering and nuclear law has earned him the title 'nuclear diplomat'." Citation says, " He played maximum role in all steps taken by the Government of India towards opening international civil nuclear trade." Citation also acknowledges his role during negotiations in 2005 aimed at India joining ITER and he has been leading the Indian delegation to ITER Council since its inception. [7]
In 2014, he was conferred India's fourth-highest civilian award, the Padma Shri. In 2016, the Delhi College of Engineering Alumni Association presented him with a lifetime achievement award for his continued high-level involvement in professional activities.
Ravi Grover is well known in India as a proponent of nuclear energy as can be seen from his publications related to nuclear energy. He is an editor of the International Journal of Nuclear Knowledge Management. [8]
Dr. Grover along with his colleagues formulated a scenario for the growth of electricity demand in India by taking into consideration economic growth, population growth, and improvement in energy intensity of GDP and formulating a possible supply mix considering India's fuel resource base to delineate niche area for nuclear energy. This was the first such long-term forecast of electricity demand in India and firmly established the role of nuclear energy in India's electricity mix. [9] Based on a very simple logic, in an article published in The Hindu, he explains why India needs nuclear energy. [10] He has been writing in media about issues related to India's electricity needs and has been highlighting the importance of nuclear energy. [11] [12] [13] [14] He firmly believes that only a diverse energy mix comprising all low-carbon technologies, that is hydro, nuclear, solar, and wind, should be exploited and provided with a level playing field. [15]
He has worked on details of India's regime on civil liability for nuclear damage and is credited with explaining fine detail regarding Supplier's liability. [16]
Ravi Grover is one half of the Kakodkar-Grover duo who are chiefly responsible for the success of the Indo-US negotiations that culminated in the 123 agreement signed in July 2007. [17] Anil Kakodkar and Ravi Grover were the technical advisors to India's politicians in the tense negotiations that led to the Indo-US nuclear agreement, a culmination of two years of painstaking negotiations. [18] [19] [20]
Quoted from Frontline magazine, Volume 24 – Issue 16 :: 11–24 Aug. 2007: [21]
Officials of the DAE called it “a fantastic team effort” and complimented the crucial, but low-key, role of Ravi B. Grover, Director of the DAE’s Strategic Planning Group. According to the DAE, Grover, who is also Director of the Knowledge Management Group of BARC, stood like a rock against the onslaught of American demands. While the core negotiating team comprised officials of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), India’s High Commissioner to Singapore S. Jaishankar, Joint Secretary (Americas) Gayatri Kumar and Grover, National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon stepped into the picture when the negotiations reached a decisive stage. In the final round in Washington in July, AEC chairman and DAE Secretary Anil Kakodkar was available for consultations, although he did not participate directly in the negotiations.
Shivshankar Menon has described nuclear scientist Ravi Grover and the diplomat S Jaishankar as "the sources of ideas and details" for the civil nuclear initiative with the United States. [22] Ravi Grover has written in detail about the initiative to open civil nuclear cooperation. [23]
Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI) was accredited as a deemed to be university in 2005 and Ravi Grover was its first director. He played a lead role in setting up the institute. To comply with the new regulations, his title was changed to Vice-Chancellor. He was head of HBNI from 2005 until February 2016 and has brought it to the stage of one of the leading research universities in India. [24] Ravi Grover has written a brief history of the institute in an article published by him on the website of the Indian National Academy of Engineering. [25] To explain the rationale for setting up the institute, he wrote in detail on the relationship between science and technology in an article [26] which has been widely read and then wrote about setting up of the institute in Current Science (10 October 2019). [27]
Operation Smiling Buddha or Operation Happy Krishna was the assigned code name of India's first successful nuclear bomb test on 18 May 1974. The bomb was detonated on the army base Pokhran Test Range (PTR), in Rajasthan, by the Indian Army under the supervision of several key Indian generals.
Raja Ramanna was an Indian physicist who is best known for his role in India's nuclear program during its early stages.
Homi Jehangir Bhabha, was an Indian nuclear physicist, founding director, and professor of physics at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR). Colloquially known as the "father of the Indian nuclear programme", Bhabha was also the founding director of the Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay (AEET) which is now named the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in his honour. TIFR and AEET were the cornerstone of the Indian development of nuclear weapons which Bhabha also supervised as director. He was the first chairman of the Indian Atomic Energy Commission and the Department of Atomic Energy.
Anil Kakodkar, is an Indian nuclear physicist and mechanical engineer. He was the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India and the Secretary to the Government of India, he was the Director of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay from 1996 to 2000. He was awarded the Padma Vibhushan, India's second highest civilian honour, on 26 January 2009.
The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) is India's premier nuclear research facility, headquartered in Trombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It was founded by Homi Jehangir Bhabha as the Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay (AEET) in January 1954 as a multidisciplinary research program essential for India's nuclear program. It operates under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), which is directly overseen by the Prime Minister of India.
The Homi Bhabha National Institute (HBNI) is an Indian deemed university established by the Department of Atomic Energy, which unifies academic programmes of several of its constituent institutions. Deemed universities in India have been divided in three categories by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) and HBNI has been placed in category 'A', highest of the three categories. Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai and its Constituent Units are the institutions of excellence as per section 4(b) of "The Central Education Institutions Act, 2006".
The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) is a department with headquarters in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. DAE was established in 1954 by a Presidential Order. DAE has been engaged in the development of nuclear power technology, applications of radiation technologies in the fields of agriculture, medicine, industry and basic research. DAE comprises five research centres, three industrial organisations, five public sector undertakings and three service organisations. It has under its aegis two boards for promoting and funding extramural research in nuclear and allied fields, mathematics and a national institute. It also supports eight institutes of international repute engaged in research in basic sciences, astronomy, astrophysics, cancer research and education. It also has in its fold an educational society that provides educational facilities for children of DAE employees. The important programmes of the DAE are directed towards:
Srikumar Banerjee was an Indian metallurgical engineer. He retired as the chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India (AECI) and the secretary of Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) on 30 April 2012. Prior to his stint as DAE chairman, he was the director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) from 30 April 2004 to 19 May 2010. He had also served as a DAE Homi Bhabha Chair Professor at Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai. He was known as a great physical metallurgist.
The Atomic Energy Commission of India is the governing body of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), Government of India. The DAE is under the direct charge of the Prime Minister.
Rajagopala Chidambaram is an Indian Physicist who is known for his integral role in India's nuclear weapons program; he coordinated test preparation for the Pokhran-I (1975) and Pokhran-II (1998).
Nuclear power is the fifth-largest source of electricity in India after coal, gas, hydroelectricity and wind power. As of November 2020, India has 22 nuclear reactors in operation in 8 nuclear power plants, with a total installed capacity of 7,380 MW. Nuclear power produced a total of 43 TWh in 2020-21, contributing 3.11% of total power generation in India. 10 more reactors are under construction with a combined generation capacity of 8,000 MW.
India's three-stage nuclear power programme was formulated by Homi Bhabha, the well-known physicist, in the 1950s to secure the country's long term energy independence, through the use of uranium and thorium reserves found in the monazite sands of coastal regions of South India. The ultimate focus of the programme is on enabling the thorium reserves of India to be utilised in meeting the country's energy requirements. Thorium is particularly attractive for India, as India has only around 1–2% of the global uranium reserves, but one of the largest shares of global thorium reserves at about 25% of the world's known thorium reserves. However, thorium is more difficult to use than uranium as a fuel because it requires breeding, and global uranium prices remain low enough that breeding is not cost effective.
Padmanabhan Krishnagopala Iyengar, was an Indian nuclear physicist who is widely known for his central role in the development of the nuclear program of India. Iyengar previously served as the director of BARC and former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission of India, he raised his voice and opposition against the nuclear agreement between India and the United States and expressed that the deal favoured the United States.
Ratan Kumar Sinha, is an Indian nuclear scientist and mechanical engineer. He had served as the Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), Government of India from April 2012 to October 2015. Prior to that, Ratan Kumar Sinha had served as Director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai from May 2010 to June 2012. During the four decades of his career, Ratan Kumar Sinha held several important positions related to design & development of nuclear reactors for the Indian nuclear programme. He has been actively involved in the development of the advanced heavy water reactor (AHWR) and Compact High Temperature Reactor (CHTR), two of the highly acknowledged technological innovations which are suitable for large scale deployment of nuclear power, particularly in India.
Malur Ramasamy Srinivasan, is an Indian nuclear scientist and mechanical engineer. He played a key role in the development of India's nuclear power programme and the development of the PHWR. He received the Padma Vibhushan Award.
Jyeshtharaj Bhalchandra Joshi is an Indian chemical engineer, nuclear scientist, consultant and professor, widely known for his innovations in nuclear reactor designs and generally regarded as a respected teacher. He is the DAE-Homi Bhabha Chair Professor, Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai, and is the recipient of Shantiswarup Bhatnagar Prize for Engineering Sciences and many other awards and recognitions. He received the third highest civilian honour, the Padma Bhushan, in 2014 for his services to the field of chemical engineering and nuclear science.
Chaitanyamoy Ganguly is an Indian nuclear scientist and a former head of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Materials Section of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), credited with many innovations in the field of nuclear material science. He was honored by the Government of India, in 2002, with the fourth highest Indian civilian award of Padma Shri.
Valangiman Subramanian Ramamurthy is an Indian nuclear physicist with a broad range of contributions from basic research to Science and Engineering administration.Prof.Ramamurthy started his career in Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai in the year 1963. He made important research contributions in the area of nuclear fission, medium energy heavy ion reactions, statistical and thermodynamic properties of nuclei and low energy accelerator applications. During the period 1995-2006, Prof.Ramamurthy was fully involved in Science administration as Secretary to Government of India, Department of Science and Technology, (DST), New Delhi.Other important assignments held by him include Director, Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar, (1989-1995), DAE Homi Bhabha Chair in the Inter-University Accelerator Centre, New Delhi (2006-2010), and Director of the National Institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru (2009-2014). He is a former chairman of the Recruitment and Assessment Board of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and has served as a member of the design team of the first Indian nuclear experiment in Pokhran on 18 May 1974. The Government of India awarded him the third highest Indian civilian honour of Padma Bhushan in 2005.
Chokkanathapuram Venkataraman Sundaram (1929–2008) was an Indian chemical metallurgist, best known for the commissioning of the Fast Breeder Test Reactor at Kalpakkam. He was the director of the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR). He was a recipient of the Sanjay Gandhi Award for Science and Technology as well as the National Metallurgists Day Award and an elected fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, the Indian Academy of Sciences and the Indian National Academy of Engineering. The Government of India awarded him the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award, in 1986.
Vasudeva Kilara Iya is an Indian nuclear scientist and the First Head of the radioisotope and radiation technology programme of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and a former Group Director at BARC (1974-1987).
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link){{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)