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Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
High-temperature plumbing and advanced reactors
The use of nuclear fission power and its role in impacting climate change is hotly debated. Fission advocates argue that short-term solutions would involve the rapid deployment of Gen III+ nuclear reactors, like Vogtle-3 and -4, while long-term climate change impact would rely on the creation and implementation of Gen IV reactors, “inherently safe” reactors that use passive laws of physics and chemistry rather than active controls such as valves and pumps to operate safely. While Gen IV reactors vary in many ways, one thing unites nearly all of them: the use of exotic, high-temperature coolants. These fluids, like molten salts and liquid metals, can enable reactor engineers to design much safer nuclear reactors—ultimately because the boiling point of each fluid is extremely high. Fluids that remain liquid over large temperature ranges can provide good heat transfer through many demanding conditions, all with minimal pressurization. Although the most apparent use for these fluids is advanced fission power, they have the potential to be applied to other power generation sources such as fusion, thermal storage, solar, or high-temperature process heat.1–3
Yuji Torikai, A. N. Perevezentsev, Masao Matsuyama, Kuniaki Watanabe
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 41 | Number 3 | May 2002 | Pages 736-740
Decontamination and Waste | Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Tritium Science and Technology Tsukuba, Japan November 12-16, 2001 | doi.org/10.13182/FST02-2
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
To establish efficient decontamination methods for tritium-contaminated stainless steels, the desorption of tritium was studied for SS-316 in dry and wet argon gas carriers at different temperatures. The specimen was exposed to tritium at 523 K for 3 hours. The tritium inventory was in a range from 2 to 12 MBq. The desorption at elevated temperatures was measured by using a liquid scintillation counter. In addition, the tritium depth profiles in the specimen were evaluated by β-ray induced X-ray spectrometry. It was found that the decontamination efficiency was enhanced by the presence of moisture. This effect was ascribed to the isotope exchange reaction on the surface. The depth profile measurements revealed the presence of tritium-rich subsurface layer and the bulk with lower tritium concentration. The majority of tritium was, however, found in the bulk, indicating that extraction of bulk tritium is essential for the decontamination of SS-316 exposed to tritium at high temperatures.
