The Hindu Business Line : Opens helium extraction plant in TN

Kuthalam (TN), May 11 ONGC launched the nation’s first helium extraction plant at its Cauvery asset in Kuthalam (Nagapattinam district) in Tamil Nadu. The Department of Science and Technology and the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics (SINP) that comes under the Department of Atomic Energy have partnered ONGC in this Rs 6-crore venture.

Inaugurating the plant, Mr R.S. Sharma, Chairman and Managing Director, ONGC, said, “We see this technological breakthrough as an R&D investment.” The project is a significant step towards making the nation self-reliant in helium, he said. However, according to him, there is no commercial value to the helium extracted here as it is of negligible quantity.

Dr Bikash Sinha, Director of SINP, said India currently meets its 180,000 cubic metres of helium requirement mostly through imports. The strategic gas finds applications in space technology, cryogenics, nuclear reactors and medical equipment. Though the gas extracted from Kuthalam contains 0.05 per cent of helium, against the commercially viable requirement of 0.3 per cent, “we can produce Helium gas of 99 per cent purity”, said Dr Sinha.

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