Thermal enhancement cartridge heater modified (TECH Mod) tritium hydride bed development, Part 1 - Design and fabrication

Journal Article · Sun Mar 15 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Fusion Science and Technology

DOI:https://doi.org/10.13182/FST14-T43· OSTI ID:22429719

Klein, J. E.; Estochen, E. G. ^[1]

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1. Savannah River National Laboratory, Aiken, SC (United States)

The Savannah River Site (SRS) tritium facilities have used first generation (Gen1) LaNi{sub 4.25}Al{sub 0.75} (LANA0.75) metal hydride storage beds for tritium absorption, storage, and desorption. The Gen1 design utilizes hot and cold nitrogen supplies to thermally cycle these beds. Second and third generation (Gen2 and Gen3) storage bed designs include heat conducting foam and divider plates to spatially fix the hydride within the bed. For thermal cycling, the Gen2 and Gen3 beds utilize internal electric heaters and glovebox atmosphere flow over the bed inside the bed external jacket for cooling. The currently installed Gen1 beds require replacement due to tritium aging effects on the LANA0.75 material, and cannot be replaced with Gen2 or Gen3 beds due to different designs of these beds. At the end of service life, Gen1 bed desorption efficiencies are limited by the upper temperature of hot nitrogen supply. To increase end-of-life desorption efficiency, the Gen1 bed design was modified, and a Thermal Enhancement Cartridge Heater Modified (TECH Mod) bed was developed. Internal electric cartridge heaters in the new design to improve end-of-life desorption, and also permit in-bed tritium accountability (IBA) calibration measurements to be made without the use of process tritium. Additional enhancements implemented into the TECH Mod design are also discussed. (authors)

• OSTI ID: 22429719
• Journal Information: Fusion Science and Technology, Vol. 67, Issue 2; Conference: TRITIUM 2013: 10. International Conference on Tritium Science and Technology, Nice Acropolis (France), 21-25 Oct 2013; Other Information: Country of input: France; 9 refs.; ISSN 1536-1055
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
ABSORPTION
ALUMINIUM COMPOUNDS
DESIGN
DESORPTION
EFFICIENCY
HEATERS
HYDRIDES
HYDROGEN TRITIDE
LANTHANUM COMPOUNDS
NICKEL COMPOUNDS
NITROGEN
THERMAL CYCLING
TRITIUM
TRITIUM EXTRACTION PLANTS