Modification and testing of the Sandia Laboratories Livermore tritium decontamination systems

Technical Report · Tue Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1978

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6576491· OSTI ID:6576491

Gildea, P D; Birnbaum, H G; Wall, W R

Sandia Laboratories, Livermore, has put into operation a new facility, the Tritium Research Laboratory. The laboratory incorporates containment and cleanup facilities such that any tritium accidentally released is captured rather than vented to the atmosphere. This containment is achieved with hermetically sealed glove boxes that are connected on demand by manifolds to two central decontamination systems called the Gas Purification System (GPS) and the Vacuum Effluent Recovery System (VERS). The primary function of the GPS is to remove tritium and tritiated water vapor from the glove box atmosphere. The primary function of the VERS is to decontaminate the gas exhausted from the glove box pressure control systems and vacuum pumps in the building before venting the gas to the stack. Both of these systems are designed to remove tritium to the few parts per billion range. Acceptance tests at the manufacturer's plant and preoperational testing at Livermore demonstrated that the systems met their design specifications. After preoperational testing the Gas Purification System was modified to enhance the safety of maintanance operations. Both the Gas Purification System and the Vacuum Effluent Recovery System were performance tested with tritium. Results show that concentraion reduction factors (ratio of inlet to exhaust concentrations) much in excess of 1000 per pass have been achieved for both systems at inlet concentrations of 1 ppM or less.

• Research Organization: Sandia Labs., Albuquerque, NM (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: EY-76-C-04-0789
• OSTI ID: 6576491
• Report Number(s): SAND-78-8647
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

42 ENGINEERING
420202* -- Engineering-- Protective Structures & Equipment
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CLEANING
DECONTAMINATION
DESIGN
GASEOUS WASTES
GLOVEBOXES
HOT LABS
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
LABORATORY EQUIPMENT
LIGHT NUCLEI
MODIFICATIONS
NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
PERFORMANCE TESTING
RADIATION PROTECTION
RADIOISOTOPES
SANDIA LABORATORIES
TESTING
TRITIUM
US AEC
US DOE
US ERDA
US ORGANIZATIONS
WASTES
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES