A Scintillator Purification Plant and Fluid Handling System for SNO+

摘要

A large capacity purification plant and fluid handling system has beenconstructed for the SNO+ neutrino and double-beta decay experiment, located6800 feet underground at SNOLAB, Canada. SNO+ is a refurbishment of the SNOdetector to fill the acrylic vessel with liquid scintillator based on LinearAlkylbenzene (LAB) and 2 g/L PPO, and also has a phase to load naturaltellurium into the scintillator for a double-beta decay experiment with 130Te.The plant includes processes multi-stage dual-stream distillation, column waterextraction, steam stripping, and functionalized silica gel adsorption columns.The plant also includes systems for preparing the scintillator with PPO andmetal-loading the scintillator for double-beta decay exposure. We review thebasis of design, the purification principles, specifications for the plant, andthe construction and installations. The construction and commissioning statusis updated.