Mangaluru: The Centre for Advanced Research in Environmental Radioactivity (CARER) has been established by the Mangalore University as a national facility through financial support from the Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences (BRNS), department of Atomic Energy, Govt of India and technical support from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC). This is the most advanced laboratory/center for radioecological and radiation protection research in the country. The centre is engaged in frontline research on radioecology and environmental radioactivity in collaboration with BRNS, BARC, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR) and Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL). The highlights of the centre are:
Accredited by the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB)
Infrastructure facility of international standard
MoUs with BRNS, BARC and NPCIL
Capability to measure radionuclides of interest in the entire nuclear fuel cycle
Collaboration with national and international laboratories
82 publications in international journals
Eight major research projects on radioecology are successfully completed – total funding received - Rs nine crore
Consultancy projects - Rs 1.2 crore
Users from nearly 30 different institutions of the country
The centre is serving to the research needs of various research groups from national laboratories/institutions/universities of the country. It has ongoing research collaborations with more than ten different countries such as Europe, Gulf, East Asia, Japan, USA etc.
In view of the world-class/state of the art facility available at CARER many advanced institutions have expressed keen interest in collaborative research studies. Recently CARER, Mangalore University has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with University of Lund, Sweden for collaborative studies on various aspects of radiation protection, radioecology - in particular on Carbon-14 and Tritium measurements in the environment. University of Lund being one of the top universities in the world with consistent ranking among the top 100 universities in the world.
The MoU provides scope for exchange of researchers and students between CARER and department of Nuclear Physics, University of Lund through joint research projects. The faculty/scientist of CARER will also collaborate with Lund University on the measurement of radioactivity around the upcoming European Spallation Source (ESS) at Lund, Sweden. The megawatt-powered proton accelerator is planned to start operation within the next few years and combined research programme between Mangalore University and Lund University would be a bench mark study in assessment of Tritium levels around ESS. Also, the researchers from CARER will have access to the state-of-the-art Accelerator Mass Spectrometer facility available at Lund University for Carbon-14 determination.
Prof Karunakara N, coordinator, CARER, Mangalore University and Prof Kristina Eriksson Stenström, department of Nuclear Physics, University of Lund will be coordinating the research programmes and the activities under the MoU.
