Conceptual Design Description for the Tritium Recovery System for the U.S. ITER Li₂O/Be Water Cooled Blanket

The tritium recovery system for the U.S. ITER Li₂O/Be water cooled blanket processes two separate helium purge streams to recovery tritium from the Li₂O zones and the Be zones of the blanket, to process the waste products, and to recirculate the helium back to the blanket. The components are selected to minimize the tritium inventory of the recovery system, and to minimize waste products. The system is robust to either an increase in the tritium release rate or to an in-leak of water in the purge system. Three major components were used to process these streams, first, 5A molecular sieves at −196°C separate hydrogen from the helium, second, a solid oxide electrolysis unit is used to reduce all molecular water, and third, a palladium/silver diffuser is used to ensure that only hydrogen (H₂, HT) species reach the cryogenic distillation unit. The total tritium process inventory is 20g. The total capital cost is ∼$14M. Technical advantages of a solid oxide electrolysis unit and a palladium/silver diffuser are presented.