{"id":366197,"date":"2026-06-27T17:36:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T12:06:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=366197"},"modified":"2026-06-27T17:36:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T12:06:13","slug":"worlds-first-nuclear-powered-hydrogen-plant-cu-cl-cycle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/worlds-first-nuclear-powered-hydrogen-plant-cu-cl-cycle\/","title":{"rendered":"World&#8217;s First Nuclear-Powered Hydrogen Plant (Cu\u2013Cl Cycle)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"content-box-green\">\n<p><strong>News:<\/strong>\u00a0The Department of Atomic Energy inaugurated the world&#8217;s first nuclear-powered hydrogen production facility based on the Copper\u2013Chlorine (Cu\u2013Cl) thermochemical cycle at Kalpakkam.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"red-h2-box\"><strong>About World&#8217;s First Nuclear-Powered Hydrogen Plant (Cu\u2013Cl Cycle)<\/strong><\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_366208\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-366208\" style=\"width: 425px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-366208\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Source-PIB-5.jpg?resize=425%2C242&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"World's First Nuclear-Powered Hydrogen Plant (Cu\u2013Cl Cycle)\" width=\"425\" height=\"242\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Source-PIB-5.jpg?resize=300%2C171&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Source-PIB-5.jpg?resize=768%2C438&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Source-PIB-5.jpg?w=916&amp;ssl=1 916w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 425px) 100vw, 425px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-366208\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source &#8211; PIB<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Nuclear-Powered Hydrogen Plant ( based on Cu\u2013Cl Cycle)<\/strong>\u00a0is the <strong>world&#8217;s first hydrogen production facility<\/strong> that <strong>uses nuclear process heat<\/strong> through the <strong>Copper\u2013Chlorine (Cu\u2013Cl) thermochemical cycle<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Location:<\/strong> The facility is <strong>located at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research (IGCAR), Kalpakkam, Tamil Nadu<\/strong>, under the <strong>Department of Atomic Energy (DAE).<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Developed by:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Core Technology<\/strong>: The <strong>Copper\u2013Chlorine (Cu\u2013Cl) thermochemical process<\/strong> was <strong>developed indigenously by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Facility Development:<\/strong> The <strong>hydrogen production facility<\/strong> was jointly <strong>established and commissioned by BARC and IGCAR.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Working Mechanism:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Hydrogen Production:<\/strong> <strong>Copper<\/strong> combines with <strong>dry hydrogen chloride<\/strong> <strong>gas<\/strong> at 430\u2013475\u00b0C to <strong>generate hydrogen gas and form copper chloride.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Hydrolysis<\/strong>: <strong>Copper chloride reacts with superheated steam<\/strong> at 400\u00b0C, <strong>producing copper oxychloride<\/strong> while regenerating hydrogen chloride gas.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Oxygen Production:<\/strong> <strong>Copper oxychloride is heated to about 500\u00b0C using FBTR process heat<\/strong>, which <strong>releases oxygen gas and forms cuprous chloride.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Closed Cycle:<\/strong> <strong>Cuprous chloride passes through low-voltage electrolysis to regenerate copper and copper chloride<\/strong>, thereby completing the Cu\u2013Cl thermochemical cycle.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Key Features:<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Nuclear-Powered System<\/strong>: The facility <strong>uses process heat from the Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR)<\/strong> for hydrogen production.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Lower Temperature Requirement:<\/strong> The <strong>Cu\u2013Cl cycle requires a maximum temperature of only 530\u00b0C<\/strong>, which is <strong>lower than the Sulfur\u2013Iodine cycle.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Low Electricity Consumption:<\/strong> The <strong>electrolysis stage operates at only 0.5\u20131.0 volts,<\/strong> which is <strong>lower than conventional water electrolysis.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Continuous Operation:<\/strong> The <strong>system provides round-the-clock, weather-independent hydrogen production<\/strong> using nuclear process heat.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>News:\u00a0The Department of Atomic Energy inaugurated the world&#8217;s first nuclear-powered hydrogen production facility based on the Copper\u2013Chlorine (Cu\u2013Cl) thermochemical cycle at Kalpakkam. About World&#8217;s First Nuclear-Powered Hydrogen Plant (Cu\u2013Cl Cycle) Nuclear-Powered Hydrogen Plant ( based on Cu\u2013Cl Cycle)\u00a0is the world&#8217;s first hydrogen production facility that uses nuclear process heat through the Copper\u2013Chlorine (Cu\u2013Cl) thermochemical cycle.&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/worlds-first-nuclear-powered-hydrogen-plant-cu-cl-cycle\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">World&#8217;s First Nuclear-Powered Hydrogen Plant (Cu\u2013Cl Cycle)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10401,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,1738,12039],"tags":[11872],"class_list":["post-366197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-science-and-technology-daily-factly-articles","category-knolls","tag-9pm-daily-factly","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10401"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=366197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/366197\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=366197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=366197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=366197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}