India opens world first nuclear powered hydrogen plant using copper chlorine cycle at Kalpakkam

India's Department of Atomic Energy has started up a hydrogen production facility at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research in Kalpakkam. It uses a copper chlorine thermochemical cycle and takes process heat from the Fast Breeder Test Reactor. This is claimed as a world first for this specific method. The plant is a technology demonstrator meant to validate the process before scaling up. The Cu Cl cycle runs at lower temperatures than some other thermochemical hydrogen routes, which improves efficiency. By using nuclear heat instead of burning natural gas, the process avoids the CO2 emissions typical of conventional hydrogen production. The project was developed jointly by BARC and IGCAR using indigenous technology. For now this is a small scale demonstration facility. The big question is whether the process can be commercialized and at what cost. If it works at scale, it could open a pathway for carbon free hydrogen from India's growing fleet of nuclear reactors. That would matter for hard to abate sectors like fertilizer and steel.