RONO HILLS, 10 Dec: A Radon Geo-Station was installed in the Rajiv Gandhi University campus here on Friday as part of the Radiological Physics and Advisory Division of Bhabha Atomic Research Center’s (BARC) ongoing project of setting up of solar powered Indian Network of Detection of Radon Anomaly for Seismic Alert (INDRA-SA) in the subcontinent of India.
Project coordinator BARC Scientist E Dr. B.K Sahoo had earlier approached the university for a tie-up in installation of a geo-station in the campus.
RGU vice chancellor prof. Saket Kushwaha took a keen interest in extending the facilities and space in the university campus for scientific investigation in using radon emissions as precursor for earthquakes.
Dr. Sahoo explained the functioning of the in-house designed solar powered and standalone equipment for recording radon anomaly that can be used in modeling as a precursor and predicting earthquakes.
‘There will be more than a hundred such stations in the country and four geo-stations have been planned for Arunachal Pradesh,’ he informed.
Coordinator of Centre for Creative Learning and Center for Geoinformatics prof. S.K Patnaik, dean, faculty of basic sciences prof. Sanjeev Kumar and dean, faculty of environmental sciences prof. N.C Singh explained and highlighted the thrust areas of scientific and technological investigation of Earth and environmental issues pursued by Rajiv Gandhi University.
Head, Department of Geography prof. Tomo Riba emphasized the need to increase the number of geo-station networks in the vast expanse of land under Zone V of earthquake vulnerability.