Tips for the Fabrication of Temporary Tritium Experiments

The Tritium System Test Assembly (TSTA) is a facility built for the demonstration of tritium handling systems necessary for tritium-burning fusion reactors. The facility has been in operation handling tritium for four years. The current inventory of tritium is approximately one hundred grams, with DOE approval for a maximum inventory of two hundred grams. Not all experiments performed at TSTA require the operation of the main process loop. During the last four years, many small scale experiments have been performed to test the compatibility and operation of tritium processing components in small self-contained experimental packages. These packages are fabricated inside secondary containment gloveboxes and can be operated for hours or months with little monitoring. Construction of these packages need to be tritium compatible, inexpensive, easy to build, and versatile. This paper discusses some of the problems and remedies encountered during the building of temporary experiments.This work is supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Fusion Energy.