How to create deuterium oxide

Fig 1.Production of deuterium oxide (heavy water) - Girdler sulfide process

As semi heavy water, HDO occurs naturally on Earth in regular water at a proportion of 1 part per 3200, it may be separated from regular water by distillation or electrolysis and also by various chemical exchange processes, all of which exploit a kinetic isotope effect. In short, the difference in mass between the two hydrogen isotopes translates into a difference in the zero-point energy and thus into a slight difference in the speed at which the reaction proceeds. Once HDO becomes a significant fraction of the water, deuterium oxide (heavy water) will become more prevalent as well as water molecules trade hydrogen atoms very frequently. To produce pure deuterium oxide by distillation or electrolysis requires a large cascade of stills or electrolysis chambers, and consumes large amounts of power, so the chemical methods are generally preferred. The most important chemical method is the Girdler Sulfide process.

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_water#Production

Countries make deuterium oxide

When Norsk Hydro began producing deuterium oxide (heavy water) in 1934, Norway became the first country with a commercial heavy water plant. The Nazi invasion of Norway in 1940 transferred control of the plant—and most of the world's deuterium oxide—to Germany. In the early 1940s, Allied countries joined the race for heavy water, and by 1944, the Manhattan Project had made 20 tons of the precious liquid, more than enough to fill the first heavy water nuclear reactor.

America's atomic weapons program ultimately relied more on graphite than on heavy water in nuclear reactors, but the United States has continued to produce deuterium oxide for military use ever since the '40s. Today, Canada and India, which both rely on heavy water nuclear power plants for electricity, make the most heavy water. Other countries with heavy water production facilities include Argentina, Iran, Romania, and Russia.

 

Fig 1. Norsk Hydro – Norwegian heavy water facility

Fig 2. Iran heavy water production plant

Source:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/hydro/water.html