India’s Department of Atomic Energy has opened a hydrogen production facility at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research in Kalpakkam. It uses nuclear process heat from the Fast Breeder Test Reactor in a copper–chlorine thermochemical cycle.
The facility was inaugurated by Ajit Kumar Mohanty, Secretary of the Department of Atomic Energy and Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission. Sreekumar G. Pillai, Director of the research centre, attended the event.
The plant is a technology demonstrator designed to validate hydrogen production using nuclear energy. The copper–chlorine process was developed in India by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Mumbai.
