CNL Technologies for Heavy Water Detritiation - 19437

Conference · Mon Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 2019

OSTI ID:23005334

Merlo-Sosa, Laura; Boniface, Hugh; Prokopowicz, Richard; Suppiah, Sam ^[1]

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1. Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, 286 Plant Road, Chalk River, Ontario, K0J 1J0 (Canada)

Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) is responsible for a large amount of heavy water owned by the Government of Canada. A significant portion of this heavy water has been downgraded and is chemically and/or radiologically contaminated (besides tritium). Storage, monitoring and disposal of this water incurs significant costs. Upgrading following chemical purification (including removal of radionuclides other than tritium) of this water is feasible with commercial processes. However, removal of the tritium to the level that would allow the heavy water to be available for non-nuclear applications requires very specialized processes. CNL has developed and demonstrated the Combined Electrolysis and Catalytic Exchange (CECE) detritiation technology to reduce the tritium to the level at which the heavy water can be classified as non-radioactive. The CECE process consists of a Liquid Phase Catalytic Exchange (LPCE) bed, where the transfer of hydrogen isotopes between water and gaseous hydrogen occurs, and an electrolysis cell (E-cell) that produces hydrogen and separates the isotopes of hydrogen, adding to the enrichment achieved in the LPCE catalyst bed. The application of the CECE technology to the tritium-contaminated heavy water would restore its full market value. As part of a project supported by CNL Decommissioning and Waste Management, a business case is being developed to build and operate a facility that will purify and detritiate heavy water to render it commercially attractive. The main goal of the current study is to evaluate the net benefits of detritiation and product sale versus the cost of permanent storage or disposal. Such a facility would not only eliminate the need to store the heavy water as a radioactive waste material and provide revenue, but would also serve as a demonstration of CNL's technology for similar applications elsewhere. (authors)

• Research Organization: WM Symposia, Inc., PO Box 27646, 85285-7646 Tempe, AZ (United States)
• OSTI ID: 23005334
• Report Number(s): INIS-US--21-WM-19437
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
CANADA
CATALYSTS
DECOMMISSIONING
ELECTROLYSIS
HEAVY WATER
HYDROGEN
LIQUIDS
MONITORING
PURIFICATION
RADIOACTIVE WASTE MANAGEMENT
RADIOACTIVE WASTE STORAGE
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
TRITIUM
WATER REMOVAL