FROM CHIEF EXECUTIVE'S DESK

In the May 2000 issue of HWB News letter I had briefly mentioned the various achievements of the Heavy Water Board during the last financial year. In recognition of the outstanding performance in the area of training the manpower at all levels which has resulted in energy conservation, cost reduction, high capacity utilisation in all the operating plants and award of quality system certificate ISO 9002 in one of the plants, Heavy Water Board has received the 'Golden Peacock National Training Award' for the year 1999 from Institute of Directors, New Delhi. This award was received in a special function held in New Delhi on 23.8.2000

We have set ambitious targets for further reduction in specific energy consumption in heavy water production and several measures for achieving the same have been identified. As we bring down the specific energy to lower and lower values, more and more efforts are required for bringing about further improvements. This will also require capital investments which will have short pay back periods. Implementation of ISO 9002 and ISO 14001 quality systems is in progress in Heavy Water Plant, Manuguru. Actions are being initiated for implementation of these quality systems in other plants as well. Diversification activities in Talcher Plant will have to be continued. Actions are on hand for setting up of a small plant for production of Tri Butyl Phosphate (TPB) at Talcher as a part of diversification.

Technology developed by us for conditioning of flue gases from thermal power plants using ammonia injection has been transferred to a world leader in the field for commercial exploitation under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed recently. We have also entered into an MoU with a private firm for jointly developing Ammonia Absorption Refrigeration technology with high coefficient of performance. This technology can have several applications within the heavy water plants as well as other industries. These areas can open up avenues to HWB for providing services to Indian industry.

(H.S.Kamath)