Simulation of large-scale air detritiation operations by computer modeling and bench-scale experimentation

TSOAK-M1: a computer code to determine tritium reaction/adsorption/release parameters from experimental results of air-detritiation tests

“…4 and 9 have been shown to be consistent with the findings of more recent related studies, such as those by Sherwood 5 and Flanagan et al 7 More of these kinds of tests are planned as an integral part of the program to be conducted at the Tritium Systems Test Assembly (TSTA).a…”

“…4, 10, and 11 for discussions and analysis of existing data.) (2) Some of these same physicochemical data also indicate 4 that the reaction of tritium with H 2 0 makes at least a tenfold greater contribution to the overall HTO level than does the reaction with 02, wherever there is a measurable amount of moisture present.…”

“…4. However, only the three interactive mechanisms related to the formation, adsorption, and release of HTO were retained for TSOAK-Ml, since the permeation mechanisms used in the earlier code-development effort were found to make only a very minor contribution to the overall tritium "soaking"* problem.…”

“…1-3), and a number of studies addressing the problem have appeared in the literature. [4][5][6][7][8][9] Previous work at this laboratory 4 involved the development of a computer code (TSOAK) to analyze air cleanup operations in terms of various reaction/adsorption/release-type phenomena that could occur during the time period between the initial release of tritium and the ultimate completion of a detritiation process of the type described in Refs. 1, 2, 4, 6, and 8.…”

“…1, 2, 4, 6, and 8. In connection with this codedevelopment activity, some parallel experiments 4 ' 9 were performed on a small (%0.05-m 3 ) enclosure in which detritiation runs were conducted for releases with initial tritium concentrations (as T 2 ) on the order of 103 iCi/m 3 . Qualitative comparisons of the results of experiments and corresponding computer simulations indicated that the formation of tritiated water and its subsequent adsorption on and release from enclosure surfaces had a significant 1 2 impact on the time required to complete a cleanup operation.…”