Experimental study about hydrogen isotopes storage on titanium bed

Abstract

The Nuclear Power Plant Cernavoda equipped with a Canadian reactor, CANDU type, is the most powerful tritium source in Europe. In the long term, due to a 6 × 10-16 Bq/year tritium production, Cernavoda area will be contaminated with an increasing quantity of tritium. Also, the continuous contamination of heavy water from the reactor reduces the moderator's efficiency. Therefore, the tritium concentration in the heavy water is limited to 40 Ci/kg in the moderator and 2 Ci/kg in the cooling fluid. For these reasons, we have developed a detritiation technology, based on catalytic isotopic exchange and cryogenic distillation. Tritium should be removed from the tritiated heavy water, and this will necessitate the storage of tritium in a special vessel that can provide a high level of protection and safety of environment and personnel. © 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.