Heavy Water Board

The Heavy Water Board (HWB) is a constituent unit under the Department of Atomic Energy in the Government of India. The organisation is primarily responsible for production of heavy water (D₂O) which is used as a moderator and coolant in nuclear power as well as research reactors. Other than heavy water, the HWB is also engaged with production of nuclear grade solvents and extraction of rare materials. India is one of the largest manufacturers of heavy water in the world. Similarly, India has one of the world's largest fleets of pressurized heavy water reactors producing most of India's nuclear power supply.

The research in heavy water production was initiated by the Chemical Engineering Division of the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) in the 1960s and was continued by the Heavy Water Division of BARC where a pilot plant was operated for studying the H₂S-H₂O exchange process. While these studies were in progress, the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) commissioned the first heavy water plant in India at Nangal, Punjab, India in the premises of National Fertilisers Limited (NFL) in 1962. The plant had to be dismantled owing to national security considerations arising out of the disinvestment of NFL. The plant used to be operated by NFL and the DAE ensured the quality of the product.

HWB currently operating seven plants around the country.

Heavy Water Plant at Baroda is the first plant set up in India for the production of heavy water by employing monothermal ammonia-hydrogen exchange process. The plant is located 8 km north from Baroda railway station along the national highway No. 8, adjacent to the Gujarat State Fertilizers and Chemicals (GSFC).The plant was integrated with GSFC until 1999 when GSFC upgraded their ammonia plant to an incompatible low pressure system resulting in temporary suspension in the operations of the Heavy Water Plant.

HWP Baroda also has a potassium metal plant for supply of potassium metal for preparing catalyst solution for all monothermal ammonia-hydrogen exchange plants. The plant was expanded in 1987 to enhance the production capacity to 52 MT/year and has a capability to meet the demands of external customers also. This plant is based on Thermal reduction of Potassium Fluoride with Calcium Carbide initially developed by Hoechst A.G., Werk Griesheim, West Germany. An independent front end was added to produce Ammonia at this time. This plant was commissioned in 1975 with an initial rated capacity of 30 MT/year. The plant was awarded ISO-9001:2000 on 06.08.2002. with calcium carbide initially

HWP (Hazira) is the second heavy water plant in the country based on the ammonia-hydrogen exchange process which has been set up without foreign collaboration. It employs the ammonia-hydrogen exchange monothermal process. The plant is located at a distance of about 16 km from Surat city. Work on this plant commenced in August 1986 and the plant was commissioned in February 1991.

The Heavy Water Plant at Kota is indigenously built and is based on the bithermal H₂O-H₂S exchange process. The plant is located in Rawatbhata at a distance of 65 km from Kota Railway Station, adjacent to the Rajasthan Atomic Power Station (RAPS). The Heavy Water Plant is integrated with RAPS for its supply of power and steam. An oil fired steam generation plant is also added to ensure uninterrupted supply of steam during the shut down periods of RAPS. Water from the nearby Rana Pratap Sagar reservoir, on the Chambal River, purified of suspended and dissolved impurities forms the process feed with the D20.

The Heavy Water Plant at Manuguru, Telangana is based on the bithermal hydrogen sulphide-water (H₂S-H₂O) exchange process. This plant with a capacity of 185 tonnes per year is the second plant based on this process, the earlier one being at Kota, Rajasthan for which the complete technology has been developed indigenously by BARC and HWB. The Manuguru site was chosen because of its proximity to the Singareni coal fields and the Godavari river which provide respectively large quantities of coal and water required by the plant. It was commissioned in December 1991. It is the flagship plant of the Heavy Water Board.