The Safety and Tritium Applied Research (STAR) Facility: Status-2004*
The purpose of this paper is to present the current status of the development of the Safety and Tritium Applied Research (STAR) Facility at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL). Designated a National User Facility by the US DOE, the primary mission of STAR is to provide laboratory infrastructure to study tritium science and technology issues associated with the development of safe and environmentally friendly fusion energy. Both tritium and non-tritium fusion safety research is pursued along three key thrust areas: (1) plasma-material interactions of plasma-facing component (PFC) materials exposed to energetic tritium and deuterium ions, (2) fusion safety concerns related to PFC material chemical reactivity and dust/debris generation, activation product mobilization, and tritium behavior in fusion systems, and (3) molten salts and fusion liquids for tritium breeder and coolant applications. STAR comprises a multi-room complex with operations segregated to permit both tritium and non-tritium activities in separately ventilated rooms. Tritium inventory in STAR is limited to 15,000 Ci to maintain its classification as a Radiological Facility. Experiments with tritium are typically conducted in glovebox environments. Key components of the tritium infrastructure have been installed and tested. This includes the following subsystems: (1) a tritium Storage and Assay System (SAS) that uses two 50-g depleted uranium beds for tritium storage and PVT/beta-scintillation analyses for tritium accountability measurements, (2) a Tritium Cleanup System (TCS) that uses catalytic oxidation and molecular sieve water absorption to remove tritiated species from glovebox atmosphere gases and gaseous effluents from experiment and process systems, and (3) tritium monitoring instrumentation for room air, glovebox atmosphere and stack effluent tritium concentration measurements. Integration of the tritium infrastructure subsystems with the experimental and laboratory process systems is planned for early in 2004. Following an operational readiness review, tritium operations will be initiated in the summer of 2004. Summary results of the performance testing of the tritium infrastructure subsystems and their integration into the laboratory operations will be presented at this conference. Current research activity includes plasma-material interaction studies with the Tritium Plasma Experiment (TPE) and tritium/chemistry interactions in the molten salt designated as Flibe (2·LiF-BeF2). The implementation of these capabilities in STAR will be described.
- Research Organization:
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE - SC
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC07-99ID-13727
- OSTI ID:
- 911057
- Report Number(s):
- INEEL/CON-04-01592; TRN: US0704367
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 7th International Conference on Tritium Science and Technology,Kongresshaus, Baden-Baden, Germany,09/12/2004,09/17/2004
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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