ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Mar 2026
Jan 2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
April 2026
Nuclear Technology
February 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Going Nuclear: Notes from the officially unofficial book tour
I work in the analytical labs at one of Europe’s oldest and largest nuclear sites: Sellafield, in northwestern England. I spend my days at the fume hood front, pipette in one hand and radiation probe in the other (and dosimeter pinned to my chest, of course). Outside the lab, I have a second job: I moonlight as a writer and public speaker. My new popular science book—Going Nuclear: How the Atom Will Save the World—came out last summer, and it feels like my life has been running at full power ever since.
Kenzo Munakata, Yoshinori Kawamura
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 62 | Number 1 | July-August 2012 | Pages 71-76
Hydrogen/Tritium Behavior | Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference on Fusion Reactor Materials, Part A: Fusion Technology | doi.org/10.13182/FST12-A14115
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Cryogenic adsorption is effective for the recovery of low-concentration hydrogen isotopes in bulk helium gases. In a fusion power plant, application of this process is foreseen for the recovery of tritium from the blanket sweep gas and cleanup of the helium discharge exhaust gas. The authors performed a screening test to find more suitable adsorbents for the recovery of hydrogen isotopes from the bulk helium gas at liquid nitrogen temperature. The screening test indicated that a natural mordenite adsorbent has a quite high adsorption capacity for hydrogen under a helium atmosphere. For the adsorption of deuterium, it was found that the natural mordenite adsorbent possesses a high adsorption capacity even at the lower pressure range of hydrogen and deuterium. The adsorption rates of hydrogen and deuterium were quantified by analyzing breakthrough curves obtained in experiments. Evaluated effective pore diffusivities of hydrogen isotopes in the mordenite adsorbents are considerably higher than those in MS5A adsorbents. Thus, it can be said that the natural mordenite adsorbents are suitable for adsorption of hydrogen isotopes from the viewpoint of adsorption rates, as well. The results suggest that mordenite-type adsorbents are promising for the recovery of low-concentration hydrogen isotopes from the helium bulk gas.