CHENNAI: India’s fast reactor and fuel-cycle research programme enters a new phase with the appointment of Sreekumar G Pillai as director of the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR), effective January 1, 2026.

Pillai succeeds CG Karhadkar, who retired on December 31.

Pillai joins IGCAR after a 35-year career at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), where he most recently served as Outstanding Scientist and Deputy Chief Executive of the Nuclear Recycle Board.

His appointment is expected to reinforce IGCAR’s mandate in advanced reactor systems and the back end of the nuclear fuel cycle.

A chemical engineer by training, with a BTech from the University of Calicut, Pillai joined BARC in 1990. He began his career at the plutonium plant at Trombay as a shift charge engineer, later moving through senior operational and engineering roles, including superintendent (operations).

Over the decades, he has built deep expertise across spent fuel reprocessing, radioactive waste management, project execution, safety assessments and regulatory compliance.

Much of Pillai’s work has been at the cutting edge of India’s closed fuel-cycle programme. He has led multidisciplinary teams involved in the design of a second integrated reprocessing plant, incorporating international safeguards requirements of the International Atomic Energy Agency. He has also participated in strategic safety reviews and overseen the commissioning and operation of complex, high-radiation process systems.

As deputy chief executive of the Nuclear Recycle Board, Pillai was responsible for project management of two high-value back-end facilities, coordinating across multiple agencies to deliver projects within cost and schedule, a release stated.