Counter permeation of deuterium and hydrogen through Inconel 600

Takeda, Tetsuaki; Iwatsuki, Jin* 

An objective of this study is to investigate an effect of existence of hydrogen (H2) in a tube outside on an amount of permeated deuterium (D2) through the tube. It was found that the amount of permeated D2 decrease with increasing the partial pressure of H2 in the tube outside when the partial pressure of D2 in the tube is lower than 100Pa and the one of H2 in the tube outside is larger than 10kPa. The amount of permeated D2 on counter permeation process was predicted quantitatively by using the effectiveness factor for diffusivity of deuterium in Inconel 600 and by taking into account of the equilibrium state for the hydrogen isotope including HD molecules on the surface. From the results obtained in this study, it is supposed that the amount of tritium permeated from the primary circuit of the HTTR to the utilization system will be reduced by the existence of high pressure H2 in the steam reformer tube in the HTTR hydrogen production system.