Amaravati: Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) has initiated steps to establish a major research and development facility on the east coast near Visakhapatnam, proposing a new campus in Anakapalli district of Andhra Pradesh. The campus will be established in over 3,000 acres.

As part of the proposal, the premier multi-disciplinary nuclear research institution has approached the Andhra Pradesh government seeking approval for the diversion of 148.15 hectares of forest land for the project. The proposal was recently examined by the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, which has recommended in-principle approval for the diversion of land in the first phase of the project.

Officials indicated that the proposed campus would form part of BARC’s expansion plans aimed at strengthening research infrastructure outside its existing facilities. More than 1,200 hectares (nearly 3,000 acres) of revenue land has already been acquired for the BARC project in the region, signaling the scale of the proposed development.