0000000000383363
AUTHOR
D. Ducret
Self radiolysis of tritiated water
The mechanism of water radiolysis implies several reactions and depends on many parameters such as the radiation characteristics (type of radiation, energy…), the temperature and the chemical composition of irradiate water. Thus it is very difficult to foresee, without experimental data, the overall effect of these parameters. If radiolysis of pure water under γ rays or α particles has been widely studied, it is not the case for self radiolysis of tritiated water (low energy β− particles radiation). In order to fill this lack of experimental knowledge and to understand the radiolysis of stored tritiated water produced in tritium plants, we studied the evolution of hydrogen and oxygen concen…
Application of gas separation membranes to detritiation systems
The use of gas separation membranes in tritium removal systems has been studied to develop a new detritiation process. The main advantage of this new process is to reduce the number and/or the size of equipments in comparison to conventional detritiation systems. The objective of this study is to choose the best suited membrane for this application. The hydrogen or its isotopes recovery performance of several commercial hollow fiber organic membranes has been analyzed thanks to three devices. Experiments are performed with small quantities of hydrogen gas or deuterium gas or tritium gas in the range representative of the radioactive contamination level in tritium handling gloveboxes. A math…
Bipolar electrolysis for tritium recovery from weakly active tritiated water
Abstract Detritiation facilities produce low activity tritiated water from which tritium cannot be recovered. Bipolar electrolysis, based on the electrochemical permeation of hydrogen and its isotopes through Pd–Ag alloy membranes, allows tritiated water enrichment together with negligible gaseous tritium release. Our purpose is to enrich water from 500 Ci/l (1.85×1013 Bq/l) to more than 2000 Ci/l (7.40×1013 Bq/l). We first describe the principle of bipolar electrolysis and its application to isotopic enrichment. The experimental part of this work consists of the determination of the isotopic separation factors. From these experimental values, we simulated the working of an operational cell…
Glovebox atmosphere detritiation process using gas separation membranes.
Abstract The use of gas separation membranes in atmospheric detritiation systems has been studied. The main advantage of this new process is to reduce the number and/or the size of the equipment in comparison to conventional tritium removal systems. Owing to the constraints linked to tritium handling, the separation performances of several commercial hollow fiber organic membranes have been analyzed, under various operating conditions, with hydrogen/nitrogen or deuterium/nitrogen mixtures. The experiments are performed with small quantities of hydrogen or deuterium (5000 ppm). The experimental results allow to evaluate the separation efficiency of these membranes and to determine the approp…
Self-Radiolysis of Tritiated Water: Experimental Study and Simulation
Radioactive decay of tritium contained in tritiated water leads to the production of gaseous helium and, through self-radiolysis, to the formation of molecular hydrogen and oxygen. For safety management of tritiated water storage, it is essential to be able to predict pressure increase resulting from this phenomenon. The present study aims to identify the mechanisms that take place in self-radiolysis of chemically pure liquid tritiated water. The evolution of the concentration of hydrogen and oxygen in the gas phase of closed vessels containing tritiated water has been followed experimentally. Simulation of pure water radiolysis has been carried out using data from the literature. In order …