Case study on unexpected tritium release happened in a ventilated room of fusion reactor

Iwai, Yasunori; Hayashi, Takumi; Kobayashi, Kazuhiro; Nishi, Masataka

A code has been developed to investigate tritium behavior in a ventilated room at its accidental release. Purpose of present study is to; (1) investigate the effect of atmospheric exchange number on confinement at initial stage of tritium release; (2) investigate the effect of atmospheric exchange number on time necessary for release detection; (3) investigate the suitable location of exhaust ducts and monitors. Essential points of discussion are as follows: (1) Atmospheric exchange number is less influential in confinement. (2) Time until a monitor detects release depends on exchange number but it is within a few minutes in any case. Installation of a monitor in each duct placed uniformly in a room is effective for the prompt detection. (3) After closing the emergency isolation valve, a few hours are needed until the tritium concentration in a room reaches uniform. Released tritium forms plume and it migrates in a room by the eddy flow at its initial stage, so it is important not to discharge plume directly. Hence, it is effective to locate exhaust ducts with some distance from the wall.