With the enactment of the Atomic Energy Bill in 1948, India had planned to harness the atomic energy for peaceful purposes, almost fifty years ago. The Atomic Energy Commission was established on 10 August 1948 with Dr Homi J Bhabha as its chairman. The commission was entrusted with the formulation and implementation of the policy of the Government in all matters concerning atomic energy. Subsequently in 1956, the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) was established with the following mandate :

(i) Generation of safe, economically competitive electricity from nuclear energy by exploiting the natural resources of uranium and thorium available in the country.

(ii) Building of research reactors and utilisation of radioisotopes produced in them for applications in medicine and agriculture.

(iii) Development of advanced technology in areas such as accelerators, lasers, biotechnology, information technology and materials including development of non-nuclear and strategic materials like titanium. (iv) Encouraging technology transfers and interaction with industry in areas of its strength contributing to the industrial development.

(v) Providing support to basic research in nuclear energy and related frontier areas of science, and interaction with universities and academic institutions to improve the quality of education and research, and providing research grants to them.