Development of an active tritium sampler for discriminating chemical forms without the use of combustion gases in a fusion test facility

Abstract

A new type of active tritium sampler that can discriminate between chemical forms in a fusion test facility without the use of combustion gases was developed. The proposed tritium sampler was operated using water vapour instead of combustion gases. To test the operation and performance of the device when water vapour is used, we evaluated the catalytic oxidation properties, and the evaporation and collection of water vapour under actual sampling conditions. The properties of the added water mass and the operation temperature of catalysts in the proposed sampling system were then determined. Thereafter, we carried out air sampling for tritium monitoring. The levels of tritium concentration measured by the proposed tritium sampling system were similar to the values measured by the conventional sampling system. Our findings show that the proposed tritium sampling system without combustion gases is a good replacement for the conventional tritium sampling system in a fusion test facility.