TEMA India commissions India's first private test facility for depleted heavy water upgradation
On 26 July 2025, NPCIL and BARC officials inaugurated TEMA India Ltd's test facility for upgrading depleted heavy water, the first such facility in the private sector.
Summary
Rajesh V, Director (Technical), NPCIL, and K.T. Shenoy, Director of BARC's Chemical Engineering Group, inaugurated India's first private test facility for the upgradation of depleted heavy water, commissioned by TEMA India Ltd, on 26 July 2025. TEMA built the facility under technology transfer from BARC and a purchase order from NPCIL; until now such testing infrastructure for heavy water distillation components existed only within BARC. The first validated consignment of eight distillation column sections, made of activated phosphor bronze modules for Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs), was flagged off, with Kaiga Units 5 and 6 among the destinations.
Key facts
- Date
- 26 July 2025
- Facility
- First private test facility for depleted heavy water upgradation
- Built by
- TEMA India Ltd (BARC technology transfer, NPCIL order)
- Earlier
- Such testing existed only within BARC
- First consignment
- 8 distillation column sections for PHWRs
- Destination incl.
- Kaiga Units 5 & 6
Practice MCQs 2 questions
TEMA India Ltd's facility commissioned on 26 July 2025 is India's first private test facility for:
Show answer
Correct answer: D — Upgradation of depleted heavy water
PIB (26 July 2025): TEMA India commissioned the country's first private test facility for the upgradation of depleted heavy water.
Consider the following statements about the TEMA India facility (July 2025): 1. It was built under technology transfer from BARC and a purchase order from NPCIL. 2. Its first consignment of distillation column sections is meant for Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors. 3. Before this, such testing infrastructure existed only with NPCIL. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Show answer
Correct answer: C — 1 and 2 only
PIB: the facility was built under BARC technology transfer and an NPCIL purchase order, and the modules are for PHWRs. Until now the testing infrastructure existed solely within BARC, not NPCIL, so statement 3 is wrong.