Decontamination of Tritiated Water
AssigneeSavannah River Nuclear Solutions, LLC
InventorXIN XIAO
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Abstract
Methods and systems directed to the separation of tritium from an aqueous stream are described. The separation method is a multi-stage method that includes a first stage during which tritium of a tritium-contaminated aqueous stream is adsorbed onto a separation phase, a second stage during which the adsorbed tritium is exchanged with hydrogen in a gaseous stream to provide a gaseous stream with a high tritium concentration, and a third stage during which the tritium of the gaseous stream is separated from the gaseous stream as a gaseous tritium product.
Claims20
A system for removal and recovery of tritium from a tritium-contaminated aqueous stream, the system comprising:
- an enrichment column containing a solid separation phase, the solid separation phase comprising hydroxyl groups and having an isotopic separation factor of about 1.06 or greater, the enrichment column including a liquid inlet at a first end of the enrichment column for receiving the tritium-contaminated aqueous stream and a liquid outlet at a second end of the enrichment column for exit of a clean aqueous stream, the enrichment column further comprising a gaseous inlet at the second end of the enrichment column for receiving a gaseous flow that includes protium and/or deuterium in the form of hydrogen gas, deuterium gas, hydrogen deuteride gas, or mixtures thereof, and a gaseous outlet at the first end of the enrichment column for exit of a tritium-enriched gaseous flow;
- and
- a thermal cycling adsorption column in fluid communication with the enrichment column, wherein the thermal cycling adsorption column is an inverse separation column and includes a tritium separation material that preferentially adsorbs tritium over protium and deuterium at an adsorption temperature and that releases the adsorbed tritium at a release temperature.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.