Surface Decontamination of Type 304L Stainless Steel with Electrolytically Generated Hydrogen: Design and Operation of the Electrolyzer

The surface of tritiated Type 304L stainless steel is decontaminated by isotopic exchange with the hydrogen generated in an electrolyzer. This steel had previously been exposed to tritium in a tritium gas facility for several years. The electrolyzer for the decontamination uses a conducting solid polymer electrolyte made of a Nafion membrane. The cathode where the hydrogen is formed is nickel deposited on one of the polymer surfaces. This cathode is placed next to the region of the steel to be decontaminated. The decontamination involves, essentially, the tritiated oxide layers of which the initial radioactivity is ∼5 kBq/cm². After treatment for 1 h, the decontamination factor is 8.