Studies on the behavior of tritium in components and structure materials of tritium confinement and detritiation systems of ITER
Kobayashi, Kazuhiro; Isobe, Kanetsugu; Iwai, Yasunori; Hayashi, Takumi; Shu, Wataru; Nakamura, Hirofumi; Kawamura, Yoshinori; Yamada, Masayuki; Suzuki, Takumi; Miura, Hidenori*; Uzawa, Masayuki*; Nishikawa, Masabumi*; Yamanishi, Toshihiko
The confinement and removal of tritium are the key subjects for safety of ITER. The ITER buildings are confinement barriers of tritium. In a hot cell building, tritium is often released, as vapor and is in contact with the inner walls. Also those of an ITER tritium plant building will be exposed to tritium in an accident. However, the data are scarce, especially on the penetration of tritium into the concrete of the wall materials. The tritium released in the buildings is removed by the Atmosphere Detritiation Systems (ADS), where the tritium is oxidized by catalysts and is removed as water. Special gas of SF is used in ITER, and is expected to be released in an accident such as fire. Although the SF gas has the potential as a catalyst poison, the performance of ADS with the existence of SF has not been confirmed yet. Tritiated water is produced in the regeneration process of ADS, and is subsequently processed by the ITER Water Detritiation System (WDS). One of the key components of WDS is an electrolysis cell. The electrolysis cell is made of organic compounds, and there is no data on the durability of the cell exposed to tritium. To overcome these issues in a global tritium confinement, a series of experimental studies have been carried out as an ITER R&D task: (1) tritium behavior in concrete; (2) effect of SF on performance of ADS; and (3) tritium durability of electrolysis cell of ITER-WDS.