ISOTOPIC WATER HANDLING AND HYDROGEN ISOTOPE RECOVERY FOR FUSION APPLICATION USING THE ZR(V0.5FE0.5)(2) ALLOY .2. CONVERSION BEHAVIOR UNDERWATER-VAPOR FLOW CONDITIONS

A follow-up is done to earlier work on the conversion of isotopic wate rs to hydrogen isotopes, and it involves the reaction behavior of wate r vapor with Zr(V0.5Fe0.5)(2) getter alloy under water vapor flow cond itions. The efficiency of the alloy, for the conversion of H2O and D2O to H-2 and D-2, respectively, has been measured at different react or pressures in the range of 10 to 330 Pa for different alloy temperatur es in the range of 150 to 400 degrees C and with hydrogen and oxygen c oncentrations in the alloy approximate to 250 mmol/mol of alloy. The c onversion efficiency was measured to be in the range of 25 to 35% at r eactor pressures of approximate to 250 Pa for water vapor flow rates o f approximate to 0.3 mu mol/g of alloy per second, while it was found to be in the range of 70 to 80% at reactor pressures less than or equa l to 20 Pa with flow rates of less than or equal to 0.02 mu mol/g of a lloy per second. These experiments demonstrate the feasibility of trit iated water vapor conversion to tritium using metallic getter alloys u nder quasi-steady-state conditions; this feasibility is very relevant to the fusion reactor fuel cycle.