Fuel cleanup systems for fusion fuel processing

✍ Scribed by R.Scott Willms; Satoshi Konishi

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1991
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 645 KB
• Volume: 18
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0920-3796
• DOI: 10.1016/0920-3796(91)90107-2

✦ Synopsis

The fuel cleanup unit (FCU) of a fusion fuel processing system receives gas from the torus evacuation system which is composed of hydrogen isotopes (deuterium and tritium) contaminated with a few to possibly around 20% of impurities (methane, helium, protium, water, nitrogen, carbon oxides, ammonia, etc.). Because the usual processing step subsequent to the FCU, the cryogenic isotope separation system (ISS), operates at about 25 K, the FCU must remove all impurities which freeze at this temperature to prevent ISS plugging. This includes all impurities other than helium and protium. This first function of the FCU is termed purification. The collected impurities contain a substantial quantity of tritium largely in the form of methane (and higher hydrocarbons), water and ammonia. This tritium must be recovered from the impurities before the remaining non-radioactive components may be discarded. This second function is referred to as tritium recovery. To accomplish these two functions a number of techniques have been proposed and investigated. This paper presents these techniques and identifies the merits and range of utility of each method.