Tritium Cleanup on Hot Uranium Powder
Fusion Science and Technology / Volume 14 / Number 2P2A / September 1988 / Pages 608-613
Tritium Processing / Proceedings of the Third Topical Meeting on Tritium Technology in Fission, Fusion and Isotopic Applications (Toronto, Ontario, Canada, May 1-6, 1988) / dx.doi.org/10.13182/FST88-A25201
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20 g of uranium powder was used in a laboratory setup at temperatures between 500 and 900 °C to study the retention of 1% each of O2, N2, NH3, CO2, and CH4 either as single impurities or three-component mixtures in H2. O2, NH3, and N2 as single impurities can be retained down to residual concentrations of 1 to 20 ppm at 500 °C. This is also true of CO2, but a large volume of CH4 is produced in this case. CH4 as a single impurity is not retained effectively below 900 °C. O2 redecomposes the uranium nitrides and carbides already formed. The achievable degrees of conversion are between 10% and 100 % for the reactions and increase as the temperature is raised.
