Heavy Water Board inks agreement for sale of 20 tonnes of Heavy Water

Heavy Water Board (HWB), a constituent industrial unit of Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) signed an collaborative agreement with Clearsynth, Mumbai for sale of 20 tonnes of Heavy Water in year. It will be sold for development of deuterium labeled compounds, NMR Solvents, d-labeled Active Pharma Ingredients (APIs).

Significance

This deal marks beginning of important era in t annals of Indian Nuclear industry leading to societal benefits for masses. During previous years, Indian industries had imported deuterated compounds and Heavy Water to tune of 9 Million USD. This collaborative agreement will initiate import substitution for deuterated compounds and Heavy Water.

Heavy Water Board (HWB)

HWB is constituent unit under DAE in the Central Government. It is primarily responsible for production of Heavy Water (D2O) which is used as ‘moderator’ and ‘Coolant’ in nuclear power as well as research reactors. It is also engaged with production of different types of nuclear grade solvents and extraction of rare materials. HWB currently operates 7 heavy water plants around the country.

Heavy Water

It is also known as deuterium oxide (D2O). It is form of water that contains large amount of hydrogen isotope deuterium (heavy hydrogen). Deuterium differs from hydrogen which is usually found in water. Heavy water may be deuterium protium oxide (DHO) or deuterium oxide (D2O). The presence of deuterium increase mass of water and gives different chemical and physical property compared to normal water.
Heavy water is used in certain types of nuclear reactors, where it acts as a neutron moderator to slow down neutrons. It also used in nuclear magnetic resonance, organic chemistry, fourier transform spectroscopy, neutron moderator, neutrino detector, tritium production and metabolic rate testing in physiology and biology.

Month: Current Affairs - February, 2018