Shivram Bhoje

Shivram Baburao Bhoje (born 9 April 1942) is a distinguished Indian nuclear scientist who worked in the field of fastbreeder nuclear reactor technology for forty years in the design, construction, operation, and research and development Indian government has honored him with Padma Shri in 2003, the fourth highest civilian award in India, for his distinguished service to science and engineering fieldsBhoje was born on 9 April 1942 in Kasaba Sangaon, a small village in Kolhapur district which falls under Kagal Taluka jurisdiction He completed his schooling in Dadasaheb Magadum high school, Kasaba Sangaon He was famous for his knowledge in mathematics and science in his school After completing schooling, he moved to Rajaram College Kolhapur to complete his junior college education He completed his Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1965 from College of Engineering Pune, COEP, University of PuneBhoje completed one year training in Nuclear Science and Engineering at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre Training School and joined as a Scientific Officer at BARC, Trombay He started working in the Fast Reactor Section for design of an experimental reactor He was on a oneyear deputation to the Centre dEtudes Nucleare Cadarache, France, as a member of the design team of the 13mW fastbreeder test reactor (FBTR) in 196970
After returning to India in 1971, he worked at Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam Initially he was incharge of design of 40 MW Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR) reactor assembly On completion of the design, he was responsible for the construction of FBTR He redesigned the reactor core with new carbide fuel In 1988 he became the Reactor Superintendent of FBTR He removed the initial problems and raised the reactor power in steps, after commissioning of all the systems The reactor was connected to the grid and electricity was generated in July 1997 at 10 MW power In September 2002 the indigenously designed and fabricated fuel reached a burn up of 100,000 MWd/t without any failure
In 1985, he was designated as the Head of Nuclear Systems Division and was responsible for the preliminary design of 500 MWe Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) He developed the capability in the centre to carry out sophisticated analysis for design In 1992, he became the Director, Reactor Group and was responsible for the operation of FBTR and design and engineering R &D of PFBR He developed PFBR design safety criteria as per AERB norms He served as the Member and Chairman of several committees of Department of Atomic Energy (India)