Tritium contamination studies involving test materials and jet remote handling tools

Conference · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1989

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/FUSION.1989.102318· OSTI ID:5503726

Tesini, A.; Jalbert, R. ^[1]

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1. Commission of the European Communities, Abingdon (UK). JET Joint Undertaking

To determine the potential contamination of remote cutting and welding tools to be used in the JET torus after the introduction of tritium, experiments were performed using these tools on INCONEL pipe specimens which had been exposed to elemental tritium (HT) at a concentration of 4.6 {times} 10{sup 10} Bq/m{sup 3}. A maximum tritium release of {approximately}15,600 Bq was measured during welding, resulting in the tool's surface contamination of 0.5 Bq/cm{sup 2}. A second series of tests was performed in order to determine the degree of surface contamination of various materials when exposed to HTO as a function of the exposure time and the relative efficacy of different decontamination techniques. Stainless steel, aluminium alloy and PVC rigid were exposed to HTO (liquid) at a concentration 4.4 {times} 10{sup 10} Bq/1 for 1, 24, 120 hours and decontaminated. The decontamination techniques used included; leaching in water, baking at 100{degree}C, hot air stream, weathering. The maximum levels of tritium surface contamination measured during the test were {approximately}12 Bq/cm{sup 2} for stainless steel, {approximately} Bq/cm{sup 2} for aluminium alloy and {approximately}1,700 Bq/cm{sup 2} for PVC. A decontamination factor of about 80% as measured by smears was achieved using hot air stream at 125{degree}C on stainless steel and aluminium alloy and baking PVC at 100{degree}C. 6 figs., 2 tabs.

• Research Organization: Los Alamos National Lab., NM (USA)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE/ER
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-36
• OSTI ID: 5503726
• Report Number(s): LA-UR-89-3482; CONF-891007--46; ON: DE90002406
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700206* -- Fusion Power Plant Technology-- Environmental Aspects
700209 -- Fusion Power Plant Technology-- Component Development & Materials Testing
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CLEANING
CONTAMINATION
DECONTAMINATION
EQUIPMENT
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
JET TOKAMAK
LIGHT NUCLEI
MATERIALS
MATERIALS HANDLING EQUIPMENT
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
PIPES
RADIOISOTOPES
REMOTE HANDLING EQUIPMENT
SURFACE CONTAMINATION
THERMONUCLEAR REACTOR MATERIALS
THERMONUCLEAR REACTORS
TOKAMAK TYPE REACTORS
TRITIUM
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES