ITER RELEVANT TESTING OF A CRYOGENIC DISTILLATION COLUMN SYSTEM

A new experimental system has been constructed to test ITER relevant d istillation columns and related cryogenic distillation (CD) hardware a nd control systems. These columns are used to purify tritium in the IT ER fuel cycle. The ITER test column reported here has a diameter of ab out 30 mm and a packed length of approximately 150 cm. It can operate with a hydrogen isotope (Q(2)) boilup of about 60 watts. Two 30 W refr igeration systems were coupled together to deliver as close as possibl e to 60 watts; of cooling. The separation performance of the column wa s determined by accurately measuring the tritium concentration in the feed and product streams using a mixture of D-2 and DT gas. Conditions which yield a column theoretical plate height as low as 2.05 cm. and a plate inventory of 0.118 moles are reported. The goal of this resear ch program is to measure the performance of ITER relevant columns, pac kings, condensers, and reboilers in order to minimize hydrogen (Q(2)) and tritium holdup and to show that ITER objectives can be met with sm aller diameter and lower tritium inventory columns than have previousl y been considered.