First Private Test facility for heavy water

Why in News?

Recently, India’s 1^st private test facility for heavy water upgrade opened.

• Pressurized Heavy Water Reactor (PHWR) – It is a type of nuclear reactor that uses heavy water (deuterium oxide) as both a coolant and moderator.
• This design allows the reactor to utilize natural uranium as fuel, without the need for expensive fuel enrichment facilities.
• The heavy water is kept under pressure to prevent boiling, allowing for higher operating temperatures.
• D2O needs to be 99.9% pure for working efficiently.
• But with time, it gets contaminated with light or regular water, requiring the depleted D2O to be upgraded back to 99.9% using a distillation process.
• Test facility done by - TEMA India, a Mumbai-based private company.
  • BARC – Previously testing was done by the country’s main nuclear research, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC).
• Technology transfer – BARC has transferred the indigenous technology to TEMA to build the vacuum distillations columns for upgradation of depleted heavy water.
• TEMA India will manufacture the components required for the distillation process and also test them to ensure they produce the right results.
• 1^st Deployment - The first batch of tested distillation column sections for deployment at Unit 8 of the Rawatbhata Nuclear Power Plant (RAPP-8) in Rajasthan.
• The company will also manufacture and test distillation equipment for the upcoming 4 nuclear reactors at Gorakhpur in Haryana and two at Kaiga in Karnataka.
• India’s nuclear Goals - India has a goal to achieve 100 GW of installed nuclear energy capacity by 2047.
• To achieve 22.4 GW of installed capacity by 2032.
• The government launched Nuclear Energy Mission to develop Small Modular Reactors.

There are 24 nuclear reactors operational in India, with an installed capacity of 8,780 MW.

Reference

Heavy water | Test facility for Heavy water