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. (H
2S-H
2O) bithermal process and NH
3-H
2 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 (NH
3-H
2) exchange process are linked to the nitrogenous fertilizer plants for synthesis gas feed. A pilot plant, for alternate technology, of Water Ammonia (H
2O-NH
3) exchange, which will make the ammonia based plants independent of fertilizer plants, was successfully commissioned at Baroda, Gujarat and scaled up version is nearly ready. 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.
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