Heavy Water Board (HWB), a constituent unit under Department of Atomic Energy, is primarily responsible for production of Heavy Water (D2O) which is used as a 'moderator' and 'Coolant' in the nuclear power as well as research reactors. HWB is successfully operating six Heavy Water Plants in the country . HWB has mastered the complex production technology using two chemical exchange processes viz. (H2S-H2O) bithermal process and NH3-H2 monothermal process. India is perhaps the largest manufacturer of heavy water in the world as of today and perhaps the only country which has mastered both these state-of-the-art processes to meet the heavy water requirements of the Indian nuclear power reactors. The plants based on Ammonia-Hydrogen (NH3-H2) exchange process are linked to the nitrogenous fertilizer plants for synthesis gas feed. A pilot plant, for alternate technology, of Water Ammonia (H2O-NH3) exchange, which will make the ammonia based plants independent of fertilizer plants, was successfully commissioned at Baroda, Gujarat and scaled up version has been commissioned already. Indigenously developed hydrogen sulphide as well as ammonia based plants have shown excellent performance in the last year. With well defined safety policy, all Heavy Water Plants have had an excellent safety records.
The main objective of HWB was to become self sufficient in production of Heavy Water, and now we are in a position to supply heavy water of required specification as per demand from anywhere in the world.
By implementing a variety of energy conservation schemes along with continuous monitoring, Board has achieved considerable reduction in specific energy consumption in the production of Heavy Water. From a specific energy consumption 44 GJ/Kg of Heavy Water in the year 1998-99 it has come down to 30 GJ/Kg of Heavy Water. |
