DU hopeful of AERB ban lift
The Delhi university authorities are hopeful that the ban imposed on it against using radioactive substances for academic purposes will be lifted. Delhi University vice-chancellor Deepak Pental has said the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, which had imposed the ban, was “sensitive” to the needs of the university to use such
substances in its laboratories. The ban was imposed in the wake of the Mayapuri radiation incident that had left one person dead and more than half-a-dozen injured in Mayapuri scrap yard in the month of April.
The DU vice-chancellor has said that the AERB was sensitive to the needs of the M.Sc. students, who required to use radioactive substances in various experiments, and was looking into the request by the Delhi University.
However, he said that it would be premature to jump to any conclusion about the decision that would be taken by the AERB. The university is hoping that the permission would be granted for those substances which are not highly radioactive.
The vice-chancellor said that the chemistry department will send a list of radioactive substances to the AERB within a couple of days seeking permission for their use. It is being hoped that some substances will be allowed. The final decision would, however, rest with the AERB, said the V-C.
A two-member team comprising Prof. A.K. Bakshi, head of the department of chemistry, and the university registrar had recently met AERB officials and informed them about a series of measures the department has taken to ensure that people were not exposed to radiation from those substances. A report on the radiation exposure in Mayapuri scrap yard was also submitted by the committee.
“The AERB has required us to transfer the radioactive substances that are not in use, besides handing them a list with classifications of the materials in the department’s possession,” Prof. Bakshi said.
A gamma irradiator being used in the DU laboratory that was disposed of late last year was found to have caused the radiation exposure in the Mayapuri scrap market.
The callous disposal of radioactive substance was taken very seriously by the AERB.
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