Book Folder

[SSridhar]

Just happened to read the book, "From Fission to Fusion" by Dr. M.R.Srinivasan, the former Chairman, AEC. Having been involved as an understudy of Homi Bhabha and grown with the Atomic Energy scene in India, he gives a good introduction to how India incrementally grew. He captures the excitement in setting up various power plants and the trials and tribulations and how some of our brilliant engineers overcame problems. Also, on how each successive power station learned from the past mistakes. He discusses elaborately on individual power stations as well as the saga of the various Heavy Water Plants. He has neatly sidestepped or diplomatically avoided some personality issues in the AEC like when Vikram Sarabhai followed Homi Bhabha or the known issues between him and Sethna and later between Sethna and Raja Ramanna. He meticulously mentions names of hundreds of persons in the Establishment and their various contributions. Though there is no mention of the weapons programme, the book is an excellent read for understanding the Indian achievements in the Atomic power sector field.