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Fusion Science and Technology
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Playing the “bad guy” to enhance next-generation safety
Sometimes, cops and robbers is more than just a kid’s game. At the Department of Energy’s national laboratories, researchers are channeling their inner saboteurs to discover vulnerabilities in next-generation nuclear reactors, making sure that they’re as safe as possible before they’re even constructed.
A. N. Perevezentsev, A. C. Bell, L. A. Rivkis, V. M. Filin, V. V. Gushin, M. I. Belyakov, V. I. Bulkin, I. G. Prykina, I. M. Kravchenko, A. A. Semenov, A. I. Davidov, S. P. Eliseev, D. V. Titov
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 52 | Number 1 | July 2007 | Pages 84-99
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST07-16
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Several methods of decontamination, such as melting, heating with flame, isotopic exchange with gaseous hydrogen, replacement with hydrogen, and thermal desorption under moist gas, were tested on stainless steel, INCONEL®, beryllium, copper, and aluminum bronze contaminated with tritium. The detritiation methods were assessed with respect to the fraction of the tritium inventory removed, the residual tritium concentration remaining, and the reduction in the rate of tritium outgassing. Potential applications of these decontamination methods include detritiation of the Joint European Torus (JET) vacuum vessel and the tritium plant prior to dismantling for decommissioning and subsequent processing of the intermediate-level waste this has generated.