Tritium behavior intentionally released in the radiological controlled room under the US-Japan collaboration at TSTA/LANL

A series of planned tritium release experiments into the Tritium Systems Te st Assembly (TSTA) tritium processing rooms (3000 m(3)), were performed und er the US-Japan collaboration program at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LA NL). These experiments were carried out to acquire data on the behavior of tritium in an actual tritium facility. These experiments were performed saf ely with no impact on the environment or worker safety using 37 GBq (1 Ci). The results showed that the migration of tritium within the facility was d ominated by the residual airflow in the room and reached a uniform value in 30 similar to 40 minutes. After restoring the normal once through ventilat ion (5 air changes per hour), room tritium levels decreased to background i n less than 1 hour. Residual surface contamination was detected (max. 1 Bq/ cm(2) level). Residual contamination levels were found to be in order of de creasing contamination: linoleum > epoxy coating > acrylic resin > butyl ru bber > stainless steel, from soaking results. The surface contamination inc rease as a result of the tritium release, was reduced to background with th e normal ventilation within a few days.