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Conceptual Design for a Blanket Tritium Extraction Test Stand

Chase N. Taylor, Thomas F. Fuerst, Paul W. Humrickhouse, Robert J. Pawelko, Masashi Shimada

Fusion Science and Technology / Volume 77 / Number 7-8 / November 2021 / Pages 829-835

Technical Paper / dx.doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2021.1880133

Received:December 18, 2020
Accepted:January 15, 2021
Published:December 2, 2021

Future fusion reactors must be able to breed the tritium they will consume. Several breeding and tritium extraction technologies are under investigation internationally. PbLi is of particular interest as a breeder material. A new forced convection PbLi loop, the Tritium Extraction eXperiment (TEX), is being designed and constructed to investigate tritium extraction from PbLi. Specifically, TEX will serve to investigate the extraction efficiency of various vacuum permeator membranes and configurations. The major components of the loop include a moving magnet pump, reverse permeator, furnace test section, analysis chamber, supply tank, and plenum. As significant hazards are present in such experiments, safety is an integral focus of the experimental design.