Behaviour of tritium released into the working rooms of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor

Abstract

The behaviour of tritium released into the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) working rooms in the form of HTO or T 2 as a result of some postulated reference accidents is analysed. The dynamics of air and of surface detritiation are studied for different rooms with specific wall coatings at a design ventilation throughput. Adsorption in the walls and on the surface of equipment is shown to be an important factor that may determine the level of air contamination and the time needed to detritiate the contaminated rooms. The role of different factors in the detritiation process is discussed. Measures are proposed that can be adopted at the design stage to mitigate the consequences of tritium release into the working rooms of the ITER and to reduce the time needed to decontaminate room air to a permissible level.