Pre-Conceptual Design for Northstar ??????Mo Process Tritium Removal System

Nobile, Arthur¹  Reichert, Heidi¹  Hollis, William Kirk¹  Taylor, Craig Michael¹  Gordon, John Cameron¹  Dale, Gregory E.¹ 

[1]Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

关键词: TRITIUM;    MOLYBDENUM 99;    HYDROCARBONS;    OXYGEN;    ACTIVATED CARBON;    MOLECULAR SIEVES;    OXIDATION;    WATER;    TEMPERATURE RANGE 0400-1000 K;    REMOVAL;    DESIGN;    STEADY-STATE CONDITIONS;    OPERATION;    ISOTOPE PRODUCTION;    S;   

DOI  :  10.2172/1234499
RP-ID  :  LA--UR-16-20141
PID  :  OSTI ID: 1234499
Others  :  TRN: US1600224

美国|英语

来源: SciTech Connect

【 摘 要 】

In this report we describe a preliminary concept for a Tritium Removal System (TRS) to remove tritium that is generated in the ??????Mo production process. Preliminary calculations have been performed to evaluate an approximate size for the system. The concept described utilizes well-established detritiation technology based on catalytic oxidation of tritium and tritiated hydrocarbons to water in a high temperature (400 ?��C) reactor and capture of water in a molecular sieve bed. The TRS concept involves use of a single system that would cycle through each of the seven online target systems and remove tritium that has been accumulated after one week???s run time. The TRS would perform cleanup operations on each target system for a period of approximately 24 hours. This would occur while the system is still online and just prior to target replacement, so tritium levels would at their minimum values for target replacement. In the concept, during normal operation a small fraction (1%) of the helium recirculating in the system would be diverted through the TRS and returned to the flow loop. With this approach sufficient levels of detritiation can be accomplished in a 24 hour period. In the study it was found that because of the need to maintain low oxygen levels in the system (<100 ppm) this increases the size of the catalytic reactor. As a result of this finding, consideration should be given to other methods for removing tritium from the system. Other methods such as catalytic exchange of tritium with an unsaturated organic compound and subsequent trapping on activated carbon or molecular sieve could offer advantages of reducing reactor size and operation at lower reactor temperature. However the most significant advantage of such an approach would be the ability to operate in very low oxygen environments, which would eliminate any concerns for oxidation of the target.