Arun Srivastava, former ITER Council Chair
Arun was both an engineer and an administrator. A chemist by training, he graduated in 1983 from the Laxminarayan Institute of Technology (LIT), Nagpur, India, and later obtained a postgraduate diploma in Management Studies from Mumbai University.
A graduate of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) training school, he was involved in the design, construction and commissioning of the Manuguru Heavy Water Plant, and joined India's Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) in the late 1990s.
In 2010, he was appointed Secretary of the Atomic Energy Commission, the highest policy-making body for atomic energy in India.
Arun saw nuclear energy as a way to provide "a better quality of life to India's citizens," contributing not only to electricity production but also, through the development and deployment of nuclear and radiation technologies and their applications, to better health care and improved food production.
Arun will also be remembered for being one of the driving forces behind the organization of the 2019 Vigyan Samagam project—a travelling exhibition that showcased India's contributions to cutting-edge research megaprojects, including ITER, worldwide.
At ITER, and in many other places, he will be deeply missed.