BARC scientists named in first Higgs Boson paper

BARC scientists named in first Higgs Boson paper

In an effort to allay fears of radiation in light of nationwide protests against nuclear power plants, the atomic energy establishment will further strengthen their public outreach programmes across the country.

The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) has started consolidating existingscientific findings on radiation and is seeking international collaboration to work on new research to address the thresholds below which radiation does not have harmful effects in humans. The department will also translate its public information related material into different regional languages.

"This will help in debunking myths about harmful effects of radiation arising out of operation of our facilities through due dissemination of facts in a simple language," said RK Sinha, chairperson, atomic energy commission on Tuesday. "We are also planning to hold a series of media workshops."

Sinha was addressing the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre's (BARC) scientific community on its founder's day. He also listed achievements by the nuclear establishment.

BARC scientists were named in the July edition of Physics Letters B, the first paper published on the discovery of the elusive Higgs Boson particle in the Large Hadron Collider at the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN).

The DAE as part of the 12th Five Year Plan has proposed to launch eight indigenous Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors with 700 megawatt capacity each at Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Karnataka.