Inaugurated on June 26, 2026, on the Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research in Kalpakkam, the Indian facility makes use of the copper-chlorine thermochemical cycle and nuclear warmth from the FBTR to provide hydrogen, in an illustration mission that might pave the way in which for a bigger unit close to the PFBR.
India inaugurated in June 2026 the world’s first nuclear hydrogen facility on the Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research in Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu. The mission makes use of nuclear warmth to extract hydrogen from water.
The unit was put in within the Fast Breeder Test Reactor, recognized by the acronym FBTR. It is the primary and oldest Indian quick breeder reactor, utilized in analysis because it reached criticality in 1985.
The inauguration occurred on June 26, inside a strategic complicated for the nation’s atomic program. On the identical campus is the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor, the PFBR, business, with 500 MW.
Nuclear hydrogen makes use of warmth as an alternative of electrical energy
The facility capabilities as a technological demonstration. The objective is to indicate that hydrogen will be produced with chemical reactions and nuclear course of warmth, with out counting on the electrical energy utilized in standard electrolysis.
Like inexperienced hydrogen vegetation, the system begins with water, whose components is H2O, to acquire hydrogen, H2. The distinction lies within the path used to separate these parts.
Instead of consuming electrical energy, the ability takes benefit of residual warmth from the quick reactor and a thermochemical chain based mostly on copper and chlorine. The technique is known as the copper-chlorine thermochemical cycle.
Ajit Kumar Mohanty said that nuclear power can present dependable, carbon-free electrical energy, and high-temperature course of warmth, appropriate circumstances for producing hydrogen on a big scale.
Why India calls the mission a technological milestone
The Department of Atomic Energy labeled the ability as a milestone of the Indian three-phase nuclear program. This program was conceived within the Nineteen Fifties by nuclear physicist Homi Jehangir Bhabha.
The technique was born in a context of restricted uranium reserves and the intention to discover thorium sources obtainable within the nation. The first part concerned pressurized heavy water reactors, like these in Kudankulam.
The second part consists of quick breeder reactors, such because the FBTR and the PFBR, in Kalpakkam. These reactors function with the logic of producing extra gasoline than they eat.
Unlike conventional reactors, which use uranium, Indian quick reactors make the most of plutonium. They had been additionally designed to ultimately function with thorium.
The FBTR, nonetheless, will not be a business plant. With a capability of 40 thermal megawatts, it capabilities as a take a look at platform for fuels, superior applied sciences, and bigger future functions.
Initial capability continues to be demonstrative
The expertise was developed by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, or BARC. A 2025 doc said that the ability has the capability to provide 150 regular liters of hydrogen per hour.
BARC and the Department of Atomic Energy plan to develop the mission with a unit of 3,000 regular liters per hour. The knowledgeable expectation is that this stage will probably be commercially viable.
This unit will possible be constructed close to the PFBR, on the identical Kalpakkam campus, indicating a transition from technological demonstration to a bigger scale manufacturing mannequin.
Process has a footprint akin to inexperienced hydrogen
Anil Kakodkar said that hydrogen is turning into one of crucial vectors of the worldwide clear power transition. For him, lowering manufacturing prices will probably be mandatory.
Kakodkar defined that the price of hydrogen comes from the power consumed in electrolysis. By changing this step with nuclear course of warmth, effectivity will increase considerably.
He additionally famous that the product will not be labeled as inexperienced hydrogen, as a result of the method makes use of nuclear warmth, not renewable power. Still, its carbon footprint can be akin to that of inexperienced hydrogen.
Sreekumar G. Pillai, director of IGCAR, said that the achievement is supported by 4 many years of operational and technological expertise within the quick reactor program.
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