Chennai, Apr 27 (IANS): Nuclear scientist and the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research's former Director Arun Kumar Bhaduri passed here on Wednesday, a senior official said. He was 62.

Bhaduri is survived by wife and two children.

According to an IGCAR official, Bhaduri was a down to earth person and used to mingle with all.

One of the notable achievements of Bhaduri as part of the IGCAR, outside of the nuclear field, was the construction of a check dam across Palar river, said an official.

Bhaduri completed his schooling from Calcutta Boys' School at Kolkata in 1978, and subsequently obtained B.Tech. (Hons.) in 1983 and Ph.D. in 1992, in Metallurgical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur.

He then joined the training school of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre at Trombay in 1983, and was awarded the Homi Bhabha Medal for topping the batch.

Bhaduri joined the IGCAR in 1984 to become the Director of Metallurgy and Materials Group and also a Senior Professor of the Homi Bhabha National Institute.

He received the Humboldt Research Fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany in 1994 and carried out post-doctoral research in University of Stuttgart, Germany for two years.

He specialised in the field of materials joining and had to his credit more than 220 journal publications, 360 conference presentations and 2 international patents.

Bhaduri steered the research and development on the development of materials and their fabrication technologies for Indian programmes on sodium-cooled fast reactors, fusion reactors and advanced ultra supercritical thermal power plants.

He also won several awards like the Metallurgist of the Year Award in 2003 from the Government, Homi Bhabha Science and Technology Award, INS Gold Medal Award and others.