Sreekumar G Pillai is new IGCAR Director, first Malayali to hold the post

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Sreekumar G Pillai took charge as the new Director of the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR), Kalpakkam. He is the first Malayali to head the Kalpakkam IGCAR.

Sreekumar is the Deputy Chief Executive of the Nuclear Recycle Board at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai. He succeeds C.G. Karhadkar, who retired on December 31, 2025. The change in leadership is expected to strengthen IGCAR's focus on advanced nuclear research, in line with India's nuclear energy goals.

Sreekumar G. Pillai, who completed his B.Tech in Chemical Engineering from the University of Calicut, joined the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai, in 1990. He served there for 35 years in various capacities. He started his career as a shift charge engineer at the plutonium plant in Trombay and later became a senior process engineer superintendent.

Sreekumar has over three decades of experience in spent fuel reprocessing, radioactive waste management, back-end fuel cycle operations, project management, procurement, safety assessments, and regulatory compliance. His expertise includes design, construction, commissioning, operations, and maintenance of fuel cycle facilities. He led multidisciplinary engineering teams for the design of the second integrated reprocessing plant.

Sreekumar has also received the Scientific and Technical Excellence Award (2010), the Group Achievement Award for A&O of the Plutonium Plant at Trombay (2012), and the Group Achievement Award for SNM Recovery from Strategic Composite Fuel Elements (2017).