Recent progress on tritium technology research and development for a fusion reactor in Japan Atomic Energy Agency

Hayashi, Takumi; Nakamura, Hirofumi; Kawamura, Yoshinori; Iwai, Yasunori; Isobe, Kanetsugu; Yamada, Masayuki; Suzuki, Takumi; Kurata, Rie; Oyaizu, Makoto; Edao, Yuki; Yamanishi, Toshihiko

Tritium Process Laboratory (TPL) of Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) was constructed in1985, and started in 1988, in order to develop key technologies for fusion fuel cycle, and also to demonstrate safety handling technologies. TPL has a license, which can handle 9.25 PBq of tritium per day and store 22.2 PBq of total tritium. DEMO Design and R&D building was also newly constructed at Rokkasho-Aomori establishment of JAEA in 2011. This R&D building has a license, which can handle 3.7 TBq of tritium per day and store 7.4 TBq of total tritium, and also can handle other major neutron induced radioactive isotopes. Recently, our activities have been focused as follows; (1) Detritiation system R&D as an ITER task, specially for wet scrubber column development as a pilot scale; (2) Tritium tasks of DEMO R&D in the IFERC project of BA activities, such as (a) tritium accountancy, (b) tritium interactions with various materials, which will be used for DEMO, and (c) tritium durability; (3) Recovery works from the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Tohoku Japan: This paper summarizes the above recent progress of tritium technology R&D for fusion reactor in JAEA and summarized also the lessons of learned through the recovery & maintenance work after the earthquake.