Analysis of the Separation of Protium from Blanket Tritium-Product Streams

摘要

The case is considered in which the blanket product stream has been purified to the point where only protium, tritium, and a small quantity of deuterium remain. A cryogenic distillation cascade concept developed specifically to handle this enrichment problem is shown. The concept is based on a series of distillation columns and equilibrators capable of producing a protium-rich stream containing less than 1000 appm T and a tritium-rich stream containing less than 2000 appm H. It is envisioned that both of these streams could be blended with streams of comparable composition in the mainstream position of the fuel cycle without further processing. The computational analysis of the cascade was based on a fixed arrangement of columns and equilibrators and a fixed number of theoretical plates per columns, since these features are less easily varied in an actual system than reflux ratios and flow rates. In order to test the flexibility of this conceptual enruchment system to adjust to variations of the H/T ratio in the feed, H/T values of 0.333, 1.00, and 3.00 were investigated. (ERA citation 08:024825)