Details of Sustainability Topics

Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corporation (TNSC) has developed an equipment that can reconcentrate the used heavy water that were previously disposed of in the past, and has established a system for recycling heavy water at the Tsukuba Laboratory. Heavy water is water that contains a large amount of deuterium, a stable isotope of hydrogen. It is used in a variety of research fields including nuclear energy and the research of solvent for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis. Japan now relies on imports from abroad for all of its domestic needs for heavy water, and it is not an easy substance to obtain on a stable basis, as it is susceptible to overseas supply and demand conditions and the export policies of the countries from which it is sourced. TNSC is the first Japanese company to commercialize heavy water reconcentration. By using this recycling system, a portion of the heavy water used for deuterium-labeled compounds^*2 can be sourced in-house, and the amount of waste heavy water is expected to be reduced by half compared to our previous system. Going forward, we will continue to maintain stable operation of the reconcentration equipment, explore heavy water reuse needs outside the company, and study ways to increase production in response to demand.

(Notes) 
^*1 Based on research by TNSC
^*2 Deuterium-labeled compounds is a general term for compounds in which some or all of the hydrogen atoms in the compound are replaced by deuterium (D).