Heavy Water Board
Eight Heavy Water Plants are installed in the country to meet the heavy water requirements of Indian nuclear power and research reactors. The Heavy Water Board (HWB) manages the operation and maintenance of seven of these plants. Production capacity of heavy water in the country is sufficient to meet the present domestic demand.
16 MT of heavy water was exported to South Korea in October 2000. The consignment met the technical requirement of the overseas customer in all respects and was received very well.
As a result of stable operation and continuous run of the plants, the cumulative production exceeded the target. During the year 2000-01, production is expected to exceed the targeted production within the allocated budget due to the concerted efforts in energy conservation and maintaining excellent on-stream hours.
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The performance and safety record of all the operating heavy water plants during the year 2000 was very good. The plants at Tuticorin, Kota and Talcher completed more than 9.88, 7.55 and 6.44 million man-hours of continuous operation respectively without any reportable accident. The Heavy Water Plant at Thal won the "AERB Green Site Award" during the period. Industrial relations in all the plants also remained very cordial.
Following is the plantwise performance :
Performance of HWP (Manuguru) was excellent during the period of the report and the plant exceeded the targeted production. The plant had taken annual-turn-around during April-May 2000 for one month.
HWP (Kota) also registered excellent performance and exceeded the target production for the period with significant reduction in specific energy consumption over last year’s performance.
HWP (Hazira) was under annual-turn-around during April-June 2000. Performance of the plant during the rest of the period has been good.
Performance of HWP (Thal) was very good during the period despite the fact that plant operation was affected adversely due to frequent grid power failures as well as low availability of natural gas to the connected fertilizer plants. The plant exceeded the target production with further reduction in specific energy consumption as compared to last year.
Performance of HWP (Tuticorin) was affected due to low load operation of SPIC ammonia plant. However, even under strained operating condition, performance of the plant remained very good with further reduction in specific energy consumption.
Operation of the Heavy Water Plant at Talcher remained suspended due to closure of operation of the fertilizer plant of the Fertilizer Corporation of India on which the plant depends for feed stock and other inputs.
Operation of the Heavy Water Plant, Baroda also stopped since end December 1998 due to closure of the old ammonia plants of the Gujarat State Fertilizer Corporation to which it is linked. A major modification job for sustaining operation of Heavy Water Plant, Baroda was taken up and is under execution in two distinct phases viz. modification to the existing Main Plant through Phase-I and addition of Ammonia Water front end through Phase-II. Procurement action has been initiated for most of the items required for Phase-I activity of the project. The project is expected to be completed by mid-2002.
Other Plants and Modifications
As a part of diversification activity, an R & D pilot plant facility for production of Di-2-ethyl hexyl phosphoric acid (D2EHPA) was successfully commissioned at the Heavy Water Plant, Talcher. The facility is now operational and 7.4 MT of D2EHPA has been produced. The quality of the same meets the international standards. Market acceptability was established with sale of 2.86 MT of D2EHPA under the brand name of ‘TOPS-99’. Development of another solvent viz. Tri-Butyl Phosphate (TBP), which has wide application in nuclear and non-nuclear activities, was also taken up. The Board proposes to set up 60 MT/annum capacity TBP plant at Talcher, which may be operational by the end of year 2002.
The Effluent Heat Recovery System commissioned in January 2000 at Heavy Water Plant, Kota, resulted in reducing steam consumption by about 3 MT/hr, which ultimately reflected in lowering specific energy consumption and cost of heavy water. The additional transformer (40 MVA) installed at Kota enhanced safety of the plant and availability of Class IV power supply.
Another capital scheme for use of sulphuric acid in place of hydrochloric acid for regeneration of cation-resin-beds was taken up and the same was commissioned recently at the water treatment plant in the main plant of Heavy Water Plant, Manuguru. This scheme when in full operation would result in significant savings in operational cost and would also provide flexibility in operation of using either hydrochloric acid or sulphuric acid based on economic considerations and availability.
Performance of the ‘Reclamation of sour oil facility’ at Manuguru was very good and it has reclaimed 1660 KL with a saving of Rs.6.60 crore so far.
ISO Quality Systems
Implementation of ISO 9002 and ISO 14001 quality systems was in progress at the Heavy Water Plant, Manuguru and implementation of these systems in other plants was also initiated.
Energy Conservation
Motivation and awareness of the plant personnel with respect to energy conservation resulted in an overall reduction in specific energy consumption.
The Board has won the Indian Chemical Manufactures Association (ICMA) Award for Excellence in Energy Conservation and Management for the year 1999 besides winning Award from Energy Management Centre, Ministry of Power. After achieving more than 13% reduction in specific energy consumption during the previous financial year, a further reduction of about 5% was achieved till December 2000.
Technology Transfer
The Board signed MoU with Chemithon Engineers Ltd., a global leader in the field of sulphonation and sulphur trioxide flue gas conditioning for transfer of technology developed by HWB on the flue gas conditioning system with ammonia dosing. This technology has already been proved at the captive power plant of the Heavy Water Plant at Manuguru. This technology transfer would go a long way in providing eco-friendly solutions to various power plants and other dust-emitting industries like cement, steel, etc. Transfer of flue gas conditioning technology from HWB to outside agency is an important milestone and will be a forerunner for such technology transfers in the hi-tech area.
Another MoU was signed by the Board with Thermax Ltd. to undertake joint development of process technology for Ammonia Absorption Refrigeration, for its incorporation in the heavy water process technology and marketing the same as a package for very low temperature application like bulk food preservations etc.
Training & Human Resource Management
In recognition of the outstanding performance in the area of training of the man-power at all levels, which resulted in energy conservation, cost reduction, high capacity utilisation in all the operating plants, HWB won Golden Peacock National Training Award 1999 for the year 1999 from Institute of Directors, New Delhi.
HWB, in pursuit of the goal of achieving higher productivity/excellence in all aspects of heavy water production, undertook a "Work-Study" to assess the manpower requirement and to have best deployment of manpower. The Board has entrusted the work study at the Heavy Water Plant, Kota to the National Productivity Council.
Automation
Computerisation was taken up for speedy transaction, creating database, planning stores inventory, speedy transmission of information etc. The computerisation project is expected to be operational by Mid-2001.