Thermal Enhancement Cartridge Heater Modified Tritium Hydride Bed Development. Part II – Experimental Validation of Key Conceptual Design Features

The Thermal Enhancement Cartridge Heater Modified (TECH Mod) tritium hydride bed is an interim replacement for the 1^st generation (Gen 1) process hydride beds currently in service in the Savannah River Site (SRS) Tritium Facilities. Three new features are implemented in the TECH Mod hydride bed prototype: internal electric cartridge heaters, porous divider plates, and copper foam discs. These modifications will enhance bed performance and reduce costs by improving bed activation and installation processes, in-bed accountability measurements, end-of-life bed removal, and He-3 recovery. A full-scale hydride bed test station was constructed at the Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) in order to evaluate the performance of the prototype TECH Mod hyd ride bed. Controlled hydrogen (H₂) absorption/desorption experiments were conducted to validate that the conceptual design changes have no adverse effects on the gas transfer kinetics or H₂ storage/release properties compared to those of the Gen 1 bed. Inert gas expansions before, during, and after H₂ flow tests were used to monitor changes in gas transfer rates with repeated hydriding/dehydriding of the hydride material. The gas flow rates significantly decreased after initial hydriding of the material; however, minimal changes were observed after repeated cycling. The data presented herein confirm that the TECH Mod hydride bed would be a suitable replacement for the Gen 1 bed with the added enhancements expected from the advanced design features.