Radiochemical reactions between tritium molecule and carbon dioxide

Shu, Wataru; Ohira, Shigeru; Suzuki, Takumi; Nishi, Masataka

As part of a series of studies on radiochemical reactions that may take place in the fuel processing systems of a future D-T fusion machine like the ITER, reactions of tritium molecule (T) and carbon dioxide (CO) were examined by laser Raman spectroscopy and quadrupole mass spectrometry (QMS). Both T and CO decreased rapidly in the first 30 minutes after mixing, and then the reactions between them became much slower. As the predominant products of the reactions, carbon monoxide (CO) and tritiated water (TO) were found in gaseous phase and condensed phase, respectively. However, there existed also some solid products that were thermally decomposed to CO, CO, T, TO, etc. during baking at 150C and 250C.