Ahead of the start of excavation work for the prestigious India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) Project in Theni district of Tamil Nadu, the Department of Atomic Energy on Friday contested vehemently reports in a section of the media that the INO underground laboratory and the tunnels would be used for storing nuclear waste, and stated categorically that they would be meant only for conducting “basic science research in the field of neutrino physics”.
Refuting the “erroneous and malicious” reports in a section of the media that nuclear waste would be stored in the proposed INO underground laboratory and the tunnels, the DAE stated that the INO laboratory would not be used storing nuclear waste at any point in time. “The INO laboratory will be used only for the purpose of basic science research in the field of neutrino physics,” an official release said.
Supported jointly by the (DAE) and Department of Science & Technology (DST), the Rs1,500 crore INO project was approved at an Union Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the first week of January this year. The India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) Project is a multi-institutional effort aimed at building a world-class underground laboratory with a rock cover of approximately 1200 meter.
The objective of INO project – which among other things involves the construction of an underground laboratory and associated surface facilities at Pottipuram in Bodi West hills of Theni District of Tamil Nadu — is to conduct basic research on the elementary particle called neutrino. Currently, as many as 21 research institutes, Universities and IITs from all over the country are involved in this project. The INO is expected to galvanise interest in basic science research in the whole country and particularly in and around Theni and Madurai districts of Tamil Nadu.