About DAE

The Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) was set up under the direct charge of the Prime Minister through a Presidential Order on August 3, 1954. As per this order, all businesses of the Government of India, related to Atomic Energy and to the functions of the Central Government under the Atomic Energy Act, 1948 (XXIX of 1948) were directed to be transacted in the Department of Atomic Energy.

Research and development for the peaceful uses of atomic energy had made important and rapid strides by the year 1958. These developments called for an organisation with full authority to plan and implement the various measures required for the expansion of the atomic energy programme. Accordingly, the Atomic Energy Commission with full executive and financial powers was set up by the Government through a resolution dated March 1, 1958. The Atomic Energy Commission is responsible for formulating the policy of the Department of Atomic Energy.

DAE encompasses all the areas related to power and non-power applications of atomic energy. The Department has the mandate of development of nuclear power technology which includes exploration, identification and processing of uranium resources and atomic minerals, fabrication of nuclear fuel, production of heavy water, construction and operation of nuclear power plants, nuclear fuel reprocessing and waste management. DAE is also responsible for research and development of fast reactor and fusion technologies, accelerator and laser technology, advanced electronics and instrumentation, materials science, biological sciences, etc. As part of non-power applications of atomic energy, the Department carries out cutting-edge research and development for application of isotopes and radiation technologies for health care, food & agriculture, industry and environment.

DAE comprises 6 research centres-BARC (Mumbai), IGCAR (Kalpakkam), RRCAT (Indore), VECC (Kolkata), AMDER (Hyderabad) and GCNEP (Bahadurgarh), 3 industrial organizations- NFC (Hyderabad), HWB (Mumbai) and BRIT (Mumbai), 5 public sector undertakings- NPCIL (Mumbai), BHAVINI (Kalpakkam), ECIL (Hyderabad), UCIL (Jaduguda) and IREL (India) Limited (Mumbai) and 3 service organizations-DCSEM (Mumbai), DPS (Mumbai) and GSO (Kalpakkam). DAE has 11 grant-in-aid institutes of international repute engaged in research in basic and applied sciences, cancer research and education (TIFR, SINP, TMC, HRI, IoP, NISER, IMSc, IPR, HBNI, UM-DAE CEBS and AEES). It also has under its aegis, 2 boards (BRNS and NBHM) for promoting and funding extramural research in nuclear and allied fields and mathematics.

DAE is at the fore-front of research and development, leveraged by a strong synergy between R&D and technology development in a number of core disciplines of national and international importance. DAE continued to develop and deploy spin-off technologies for societal applications like advanced seed and crop varieties, food preservation, clean water, urban waste management, etc.