Process for recovering tritium from molten lithium metal

Patent · Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1976

OSTI ID:862544

Maroni, Victor A ^[1]

---

1. Naperville, IL

Lithium tritide (LiT) is extracted from molten lithium metal that has been exposed to neutron irradiation for breeding tritium within a thermonuclear or fission reactor. The extraction is performed by intimately contacting the molten lithium metal with a molten lithium salt, for instance, lithium chloride - potassium chloride eutectic to distribute LiT between the salt and metal phases. The extracted tritium is recovered in gaseous form from the molten salt phase by a subsequent electrolytic or oxidation step.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-31109-ENG-38
• Assignee: United States of America as represented by United States Energy (Washington, DC)
• Patent Number(s): US 3957597
• OSTI ID: 862544
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

process
recovering
tritium
molten
lithium
metal
tritide
extracted
exposed
neutron
irradiation
breeding
thermonuclear
fission
reactor
extraction
performed
intimately
contacting
salt
instance
chloride
potassium
eutectic
distribute
phases
recovered
gaseous
form
phase
subsequent
electrolytic
oxidation
step
lithium chloride
metal phases
fission reactor
neutron irradiation
molten lithium
molten salt
lithium metal
potassium chloride
lithium salt
recovering tritium
oxidation step
metal phase
gaseous form
/205/376/423/976/