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Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Russia withdraws from 25-year-old weapons-grade plutonium agreement
Russia’s lower house of Parliament, the State Duma, approved a measure to withdraw from a 25-year-old agreement with the United States to cut back on the leftover plutonium from Cold War–era nuclear weapons.
W. A. Swansiger
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 21 | Number 2 | March 1992 | Pages 861-866
Material; Storage and Processing | doi.org/10.13182/FST92-A29857
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Tritium permeabilities were determined at room temperature, 1.0 MPa (150 psia) tritium for three 23.4 cm diameter EPDM (ethylene-propylene-diene monomer) O-rings using a full-scale mock-up of the AL-SX shipping container seal geometry. The AL-SX container is being developed by Sandia National Laboratories for shipping tritium reservoirs. To determine the tritium permeation rate as a function of temperature, a 50.8 mm diameter EPDM O-ring was tested from room temperature to 150° C at a pressure of 1.0 MPa. Additional permeation measurements were made under the following test conditions: (1) deuterium and helium-4 at room temperature and a pressure of 1.0 MPa using the full-scale AL-SX fixture, (2) tritium from 0.1 MPa to 1.0 MPa at 142° C using the 50.8 mm fixture, and (3) deuterium from room temperature to 150° C at a pressure of 1.0 MPa using the 50.8 mm fixture. Multiple permeation runs using the three full-scale O-rings showed the average room temperature, 1.0 MPa steady state tritium permeation rate to be about 1 × 10−2 Pa-liter/sec (7.6 × 10−5 torr-liter/sec or 1 × 10−4 std cc/sec), well within the allowable limit of 7.1 × 10−2 Pa-liter/sec for tritium release from the AL-SX container. Based on the temperature dependence derived from tests on the 50.8 mm fixture, the permeation rate through the large O-ring at 1.0 MPa tritium, 150° C would be about 60% of the allowable limit. The tritium permeability was found to vary linearly with pressure within the range explored.