ITER is the first fusion machine fully designed for operation with equimolar deuterium–tritium mixtures. The tokamak vessel will be fuelled through gas puffing and pellet injection, and the Neutral Beam heating system will introduce deuterium into the machine. Employing deuterium and tritium as fusion fuel will cause alpha heating of the plasma and will eventually provide energy. Due to the small burn-up fraction in the vacuum vessel a closed deuterium–tritium loop is required, along with all the auxiliary systems necessary for the safe handling of tritium. The ITER inner fuel cycle systems are designed to process considerable and unprecedented deuterium–tritium flow rates with high flexibility and reliability. High decontamination factors for effluent and release streams and low tritium inventories in all systems are needed to minimize chronic and accidental emissions. A multiple barrier concept assures the confinement of tritium within its respective processing components; atmosphere and vent detritiation systems are essential elements in this concept. Not only the interfaces between the primary fuel cycle systems – being procured through different Participant Teams – but also those to confinement systems such as Atmosphere Detritiation or those to fuelling and pumping – again procured through different Participant Teams – and interfaces to buildings are calling for definition and for detailed analysis to assure proper design integration. Considering the complexity of the ITER Tritium Plant configuration management and interface control will be a challenging task.

The ITER tritium systems

The Tritium Laboratory Karlsruhe: Laboratory design and equipment

Fuel cleanup systems for fusion fuel processing

At present, the commercial use of tritium is relatively small scale. The main source of supply is as a by-product of heavy water moderated fission reactors and the products are mainly discrete sources or tracers with activity typically in the GBq range. There are in general no restrictions on the use of tritium other than those, which would normally apply to the use of radioactive material. The future use of tritium as intermediate fuel for a fusion power plant series will involve an increase by several orders of magnitude in the industrial use of tritium and may increase concerns relating to safety, transport and waste disposal. In addition, the use of tritium in fusion power will be unable to be satisfied by current sources of supply and tritium production in future fusion power plants will be essential for the operation of the plants as well as for the start of new ones. Power plant studies have, however, shown that these issues can be satisfactorily addressed. In addition the values for clearance of tritiated materials in a number of countries are consistent with the low environmental impact of disposal of tritiated waste. There are, however, many practical operational and regulatory problems, which will need to be solved in the context of the experimental programmes. The current regulations for control and accountancy of tritium inventory, as applied internationally and in specific countries, are reviewed and their influence on the DT fuel cycle considered. The effect of safety case limits on the need for control of tritium inventory in TFTR, JET and ITER is analysed. The sensitivity of the fuel cycle to tritium inventory is considered. The experience of controlling tritium inventory in TFTR and JET is reviewed and the latest results from JET presented. This takes into account the limits and constraints, the differing requirements for tritium processing, in-vessel retention, the needs for waste management and decommissioning including detritiation, and techniques for measurement. Comparisons with ITER requirements are made and the desirable areas for further development identified. Issues of tritium inventory control, which could influence the viability of the DT fuel cycle are discussed and priorities for action proposed.

Tritium inventory control—the experience with DT tokamaks and its relevance for future machines

This paper describes the tritium confinement concept and the tritium retention systems at TLK. A description of the AMOR facility for the regeneration of the HTO loaded molecular sieve beds and the operational experience gained from the regeneration of molecular sieve beds (up to 20 times each) is also presented. Finally tritium releases over this period to the environment will also be given. (authors)

Tritium confinement, retention and releases at the Tritium Laboratory Karlsruhe

The tritium laboratory karlsruhe: R&D work and laboratory layout

The Tritium Laboratory Karlsruhe (TLK) is a facility of the Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe GmbH (FZK) where, under the European Fusion Technology Program, experiments are performed on tritium technology for the nuclear fuel cycle with a view to the needs of the ITER fusion reactor. The Laboratory comprises conventional infrastructure systems, tritium infrastructure systems, and experiments on a floor area of approx. 1200 m 2 . The licensed tritium quantity is at present 20 g; an application to increase this amount has been submitted to the corresponding authorities. The measures taken to safely handle such amounts of tritium are described in detail in this paper. Whereas the infrastructure is operated and controled from a central process control system (PLS), for the experiments local control systems (LLS) are used. Safety relevant signals are linked to a safety circuit. Some safety signals relevant to the operation of tritium systems are connected to the Central Emergency Control Center of the Research Center. Besides the operating, control and monitoring measures the safe operation of the Tritium Laboratory relies on highest quality standards, clear plant operation rules, a high degree of inherent safety and a number of tritium monitoring systems according to the latest state of the art.

Safety Concept for the Tritium Laboratory Karlsruhe (TLK)

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The tritium laboratory karlsruhe: R&D work and laboratory layout

Safety Concept for the Tritium Laboratory Karlsruhe (TLK)