Mumbai-based TEMA India has inaugurated a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility for distillation columns for pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWRs) at Achhad in Maharashtra. The Nuclear Division of TEMA India developed the facility with support from the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) which supplied technology transfer and under a contract with the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL).
Dr Ajit Kumar Mohanty, Secretary of the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) and Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) praised the efforts made by NPCIL and BARC along with engineers of TEMA India noting that this is yet another good example of involving the private sector in commercialisation of high-tech DAE technologies.
Until now, critical testing infrastructure for heavy water distillation components was available solely within BARC. Speaking at the event, Rajesh Veeraraghavan, Technical Director at NPCIL and Kalsank T Shenoy Director of the Chemical Engineering Group at BARC commended TEMA India’s technical acumen, commitment to quality, and its growing role as a trusted partner in India’s nuclear energy programme.
They also flagged off the first validated consignment of eight Distillation Column sections, comprising activated phosphor bronze modules, critical components for PHWRs. These modules, having undergone rigorous in-house performance testing, are slated for deployment at the 700 MWe PHWRs at the Rajasthan Atomic Power Project (unit 8), Gorakhpur NPP (units 1-4), and Kaiga NPP (units 5&6).
DAE noted that PHWRs are going to be the mainstay of the Indian nuclear power programme. Heavy Water production and enrichment to reactor grade requires ultra-high efficiency vacuum distillation columns. BARC perfected the technology of making these columns. Over the last three decades, about 35 such columns have been fabricated in-house at BARC and supplied to NPCIL. They have shown excellent and reliable performance at reactor sites “establishing their merit as an economical import substitute and also embodying the Make in India philosophy of the Government.
“As India is all set to expand its nuclear fleet by building several more PHWRs within the next decade, the need for this technology is immense,” DAE noted. “In order to support the accelerated demand for these speciality columns, it was felt that Indian industry should also be engaged in manufacture and supply of these columns, to augment the capabilities available within BARC. The full technical know-how was formally shared with the industry through the technology transfer mechanism.”
TEMA India, established in 1984, is one of India’s foremost manufacturers of shell and tube heat exchangers. The company specializes in crafting solutions that meet the stringent demands of high-pressure and high-temperature environments, as well as those characterised by extreme corrosiveness and inherent hazards. TEMA expanded its clean energy solutions by leveraging their experienced nuclear experts. Their team brings extensive hands-on experience in executing both nuclear island and turbine island projects.
