DESIGN AND PERFORMANCE TESTING OF A TRITIUM CALORIMETER

Calorimetry offers several advantages over other measurement technique s for tritium accounting. For this reason a calorimeter specifically d esigned for accepting the portable tritium getters utilised in ETHEL w as acquired. This paper discusses the general construction of the ETHE L tritium calorimeter, and the initial performance tests using various types of heat source. The tests have shown that power measurements ov er a large range can be rapidly undertaken with accuracies equal or su rpassing those of more conventional techniques. On this basis, it is e nvisaged that the calorimeter will be employed as the laboratory's pri mary tritium assay device.