Radiation-induced degradation in ion exchange resins for a water detritiation system

Iwai, Yasunori; Yamanishi, Toshihiko; Hiroki, Akihiro; Tamada, Masao

The combined electrolysis and catalytic exchange process has been selected for the water detritiation system for the ITER. In the front-end process of tritiated water electrolyzer composed of a solid polymer electrode, ion exchange resin beds are installed for processing effluent ions in the enriched tritiated water to avoid the deterioration of the solid polymer electrode. The tritium concentration in the circulation resin bed is evaluated to reach 1.0910 Bq/m. It is thus important to note the radiation-induced degradation in ion exchange resins. In this study, the Amberlite ion exchange resins irradiated by electron beam up to an integrated dose of 1500kGy has been investigated. The evaluation procedures D2187-94 of the American Society for Testing and Materials are adopted. The total exchange capacity of the cation exchange resins irradiated up to an integrated dose of 1500kGy was 20 % decrease of that of the unirradiated cation exchange resins.