A nuclear source sitting in an out-of-bounds basement of a distinguished heritage campus in south Mumbai will be moved out soon. At a time when the authorities of the Institute of Science were making plans to demolish an old single-storey structure and go skyward, old-timers pointed to the nuclear source — Californium-252 and Plutonium Beryllium — within the campus that needed to be safely relocated first.
Envisioned by prominent scientist and institute head professor B C Haldar, the laboratory was set up in 1962 and grew into a full-fledged department in 1975. After some ground-breaking research, though, it declined due to lack of funds and attention from the state government. Long hobbled by lack of funds and running at less than half its staff strength, the institute saw help pouring in from corporate India. K C Mahindra Education Trust stepped in to set up a chair professor by donating Rs 3.25 lakh during the institute’s diamond jubilee. However, the lights were turned off when the last PhD student, David Manjula, graduated in 2003. Merely the nuclear source remains in the lab and now Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) has been contacted to remove it.
Both nuclear sources were imported in late 1970s and early 1980s, recalled retired chemistry professor Arun Sawant, who went on to become vice-chancellor of Rajasthan University. He spoke of working with the nuclear source. “If a scientist gets exposed to radiation, they are advised 10 days of rest, but in the history of this lab, no one was ever advised that. From our film badge dosimeter (to be worn on the special suit) to the encasing of the source that is shielded in 18 layers, to the regular inspections by BARC, everything was well adhered to,” he said. Sawant, though, said the institute’s legacy ought to be maintained as nuclear chemistry has immense scope.