Reactor-permeator for reduction of tritium oxide on iron

Journal Article · Wed Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1995 · Fusion Technology

OSTI ID:219719

Modica, G; Edwards, R A.H. ^[1]

---

1. Joint Research Centre of the E.C., Ispra (Italy)

Tritiated water (Q{sub 2}O) is produced during fusion fuel purification or air detritiation. Before recovering the tritium by isotope separation, the Q{sub 2}O needs to be reduced to form Q{sub 2} gas. The reduction of tritiated water on iron is an alternative to electrolysis and gas-shift reactors. It allows a simple, compact, configuration with low tritium inventory. The reactor design incorporates a palladium alloy permeator which extracts the Q{sub 2}. Tests on a commercial iron-based catalyst showed a high reactivity and no degradation with repeated cycling. The optimum temperature for water reduction was 375-395{degree}C, and for iron regeneration using hydrogen, 470-495{degree}C. The first prototype reactor-permeator decomposed 9.5 g water in 8 hrs using 210 g iron. The time needed for iron regeneration was reduced to 16 hrs by recirculating the hydrogen. A pilot-scale reactor permeator is now under development: it should be capable of reducing 35 kg of water per year, operating at 1 bar. Attention to the choice of structural materials will minimize tritium carryover into the water produced during regeneration. 7 refs., 2 figs.

• OSTI ID: 219719
• Report Number(s): CONF-930937--
• Journal Information: Fusion Technology, Journal Name: Fusion Technology Journal Issue: 2T Vol. 27; ISSN 0748-1896; ISSN FUSTE8
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

40 CHEMISTRY
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
CATALYSTS
CHEMICAL REACTORS
IRON
PALLADIUM ALLOYS
REDUCTION
REGENERATION
TRITIUM EXTRACTION PLANTS
TRITIUM OXIDES
TRITIUM RECOVERY
USES