Krishnakumarsinhji Gohil at 02:20, 12 August 2025

2025-08-12T02:20:37Z

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{{Short description|Indian government agency}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}
{{Use Indian English|date=September 2019}}

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 [[neutron moderator|moderator]] and [[Nuclear reactor coolant|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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://heavywaterboard.org/htmldocs/general/about.asp |title=A unit under Department of Atomic Energy, Govt. of India |publisher=Heavy Water Board |accessdate=2012-01-14 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120225112021/http://heavywaterboard.org/htmldocs/general/about.asp |archivedate=2012-02-25 }}</ref> India is one of the largest manufacturers of heavy water in the world.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.hwb.gov.in/htmldocs/general/about.asp |title=:: Heavy Water Board - A unit under Department of Atomic Energy, Govt. of India |publisher=Hwb.gov.in |date= |accessdate=2012-01-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150303181751/http://www.hwb.gov.in/htmldocs/general/about.asp |archive-date=3 March 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Similarly, India has one of the world's largest fleets of [[pressurized heavy water reactor]]s producing most of India's [[nuclear power in India|nuclear power supply]].

== History ==
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)|Punjab, India]] in the premises of [[National Fertilisers Limited]] (NFL) in 1962.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://heavywaterboard.org/htmldocs/general/HistoryBG.asp |title=A unit under Department of Atomic Energy, Govt. of India |publisher=Heavy Water Board |accessdate=2012-01-14 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20071012032227/http://heavywaterboard.org/htmldocs/general/HistoryBG.asp |archivedate=2007-10-12 }}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tribuneindia.com/2002/20020704/main8.htm |title=The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Main News |publisher=Tribuneindia.com |date=2002-07-04 |accessdate=2012-01-14}}</ref>

== Plants ==
HWB currently operating seven plants around the country.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://heavywaterboard.org/htmldocs/plants/index.asp |title=A unit under Department of Atomic Energy, Govt. of India |publisher=Heavy Water Board |accessdate=2012-01-14 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060903022923/http://www.heavywaterboard.org/htmldocs/plants/index.asp |archivedate=2006-09-03 }}</ref>

=== HWP Baroda ===
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.<ref name="heavywaterboard1">[http://www.heavywaterboard.org/htmldocs/plants/Baroda.asp] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091022105105/http://www.heavywaterboard.org/htmldocs/plants/Baroda.asp|date=22 October 2009}}</ref>

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.<ref name="heavywaterboard1"/> with calcium carbide initially

=== HWP Hazira ===
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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.hwb.gov.in/htmldocs/plants/Hazira.asp|title = Heavy Water Board, Government of India | A unit under Department of Atomic Energy, Govt. Of India}}</ref>

=== HWP Kota ===
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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dae.gov.in/heavywaterboard.org/docs/hwpkota1.htm |title=Heavy Water Board - Plant at Kota - Page 1 |publisher=Dae.gov.in |accessdate=2012-01-14 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224045704/http://www.dae.gov.in/heavywaterboard.org/docs/hwpkota1.htm |archivedate=2012-02-24 }}</ref>

=== HWP Manuguru ===
The Heavy Water Plant at [[Manuguru]], [[Telangana]] is based on the bithermal [[girdler sulfide process|hydrogen sulphide-water]] (H2S-H2O) exchange process. This plant with a capacity of 185 [[tonne]]s per year is the second plant based on this process, the earlier one being at [[Kota, Rajasthan|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 Collieries Company|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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://heavywaterboard.org/htmldocs/plants/Manuguru.asp|title=A unit under Department of Atomic Energy, Govt. of India|publisher=Heavy Water Board. One of the largest HWP in India.|accessdate=2012-01-14|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120225112137/http://heavywaterboard.org/htmldocs/plants/Manuguru.asp|archivedate=2012-02-25}}</ref> It is the flagship plant of the Heavy Water Board.

It also has a captive power plant having 3 × 30 MWe generating capacity along with providing process steam to Heavy Water Plant production.

=== HWP Talcher ===
Heavy Water Plant at [[Talcher]] employs the ammonia-hydrogen exchange process (bithermal). The plant is located at a distance of 150 km from [[Bhubaneshwar]]. The work on this plant in October 1972 and it was commissioned in March 1985.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dae.gov.in/heavywaterboard.org/docs/hwptalcher1.htm |title=Heavy Water Board - Plant at Talcher - Page 1 |publisher=Dae.gov.in |accessdate=2012-01-14 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120224045714/http://www.dae.gov.in/heavywaterboard.org/docs/hwptalcher1.htm |archivedate=2012-02-24 }}</ref> Operation of the plant was suspended in August 1994 due to unsatisfactory operation of the fertilizer plant of the [[Fertilizer Corporation of India Limited]], Talcher.<ref>{{cite web|author=John Pike |url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/india/talcher-nuke.htm |title=Talcher - India Special Weapons Facilities |publisher=Globalsecurity.org |date= |accessdate=2012-01-14}}</ref>

Subsequent to closure of the Heavy Water Plant in Talcher, the plant operation was resumed later and an R&D pilot plant has been commissioned for the production of [[Di(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid|di-2-ethyl hexyl phosphoric acid]] (D2EHPA), an effective metal extractant, used for hydro-metallurgical recovery and the separation of various metals. The [[solvent]] is useful for concentrating and purifying the valuable metal solutions of low-grade complex ores and is already being used by India's nuclear industry at various commercial operations for the separation and recovery of [[zinc]], [[cobalt]], [[nickel]] and [[lanthanide]]s. In addition TBP is used in the [[PUREX]] process of [[nuclear reprocessing]] allowing the recovery of plutonium and [[reprocessed uranium]] from [[spent nuclear fuel]]. As the technology can be used both for high [[burnup]] fuel yielding [[reactor grade plutonium]] for use in [[MOX fuel]] and for extracting weapons grade plutonium from low irradiated fuel, the technology is inherently [[dual use technology|dual use]]. Presently HWP Talcher houses three chemical plants:

# Di-2-ethyl hexyl phosphoric acid (D2EHPA)
#[[Tributyl phosphate]] (TBP)
# B-10 Enrichment Facility

=== HWP Thal ===

Heavy Water Plant Thal is the first of second generation plants in India and is made completely with indigenous efforts. It is located at Thal-Vaishet village in Raigad district of Maharashtra and is about 100 km south of Mumbai on National Highway No.66. The site is also accessible from Gateway of India, Mumbai by speedboats and Catamaran services. Work on HWP Thal was started in February 1982 and plant was commissioned in 1985.<ref>{{cite web|author=John Pike |url=http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/india/thal-nuke.htm |title=Thal - India Special Weapons Facilities |publisher=Globalsecurity.org |date= |accessdate=2012-01-14}}</ref>

=== HWP Tuticorin ===
HWP Tuticorin is located in the port town of [[Tuticorin]] in Southern India. The plant employs an ammonia-hydrogen exchange process (mono-thermal). The plant was commissioned in July 1978. Along with heavy water, the site is also engaged for production of different types of solvents, which will be used in the Indian Nuclear Industry, and other activities.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hwb.gov.in/htmldocs/plants/Tuticorin.asp|title=Heavy Water Board - Tuticorin|publisher=Department of Atomic Energy, Heavy Water Board}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Nuclear power in India]]
*[[Atomic Energy Commission of India]]
*[[India and weapons of mass destruction]]

== References ==

{{Reflist}}

{{Energy Ministries and Departments of India}}
{{Nuclear power in India}}

[[Category:Nuclear power in India]]
[[Category:Government agencies for energy (India)]]
[[Category:Year of establishment missing]]

Heavy Water Board - Revision history

Krishnakumarsinhji Gohil at 02:20, 12 August 2025