[en] A quick and single step method of introducing hydrogen into zirconium alloys has been developed. This technique involves cathodically charging the material at 250-300 C with hydrogen in a water saturated salt bath containing a mixture of sulfates and bisulphates of sodium and potassium at atmospheric pressure. In this case the hydrogen penetrates deep into the sample and gets uniformly distributed, unlike in the case of electrolytic hydriding from dilute sulphuric acid solution, where a further homogenisation treatment is required. The hydrogen contents of the order of 600 ppm could be introduced in 0.5 mm thick sample in about 2 hours time. It was observed that in a 4 mm thick sample of Zr-2.5% Nb alloy, hydrogen charged upto about 400 ppm was distributed uniformly throughout the specimen. Large coolant tube spool pieces of typical PHWR have been hydrogen charged in laboratory to about 200 ppm. It was observed that because of high hydrogen flux available at the cathode surface (Zr) and higher diffusivity of hydrogen due to elevated bath temperature, the hydrogen ingress in the material is much faster and uniformly distributed than the conventional electrolytic charging at room temperature as well as in autoclaving/corrosion test in LiOH solution at 300 C, at 100 MPa pressure. Chemical analysis, metallographic examination and XRD studies have been carried out to characterise the hydrides formed in this technique. (author). 8 refs., 11 figs., 2 tabs