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Heavy duty water
Heavy water is the common name for D2O, deuterium oxide. It is similar to normal water (H2O) in many ways- it is a clear, colourless liquid that looks and tastes like ordinary tap water- except that the hydrogen atom in each water molecule is replaced by deuterium or "heavy hydrogen".
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What is deuterium?
Deuterium is an isotope; this means that a deuterium atom has an extra neutron in its atomic structure and weighs twice as much as hydrogen, which only has a proton as its nucleus. As a result, heavy water is about 10 percent heavier than normal water. It also has different freezing and boiling points. A normal (or light) water molecule has 2 atoms of hydrogen and 1 atom of oxygen, hence the chemical formula H2O. The heavy water molecule replaces the 2 atoms of hydrogen with deuterium- D2O. Heavy water exists in all light water at the rate of about 1 molecule in 7000. |
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How is it produced?
Normal water has trace amounts of deuterium in it. The deuterium in normal water is about 146 parts per million (PPM). Through a series of chemical separation processes, the deuterium content in normal water is enriched to more than 99%. The process is very expensive due to the large amount of energy required and the size of the equipment needed to produce useable quantities.
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Cooling water
Heavy water is used as a coolant and moderator in commercial and research nuclear reactors like the Canadian designed CANDU reactors that OPG operates. |
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