Radiochemical Reactions between Tritium and Air

Robert H. Sherman, S. O'Hira*, David J. Taylor, Kevin G. Honnell, M. Nishi*, and K. Okuno*

Tritium Systems Test Facility
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos, NM 87545 USA

* Tritium Processing Laboratory
Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute
Tokai-mura, Ibaraki-ken, Japan

The kinetics of tritium oxidation in air is of critical importance to fusion reactor operations, both from safety and processing perspectives. In this study, the radiochemical reactions between pure tritium (T2) and air, both dry and moist, have been examined by real-time Raman analyses of chemical compositions, following an instantaneous mixing to nearly stoichiometric ratio (2:1) of T2 to O2 from air. The reacting constituents were contained within a quartz cell of dimensions 1x1x1 cm, sealed by a quartz-to-metal seal leading to a valve. The production of tritiated water T2O has been observed in these experiments, for the first time unambiguously detected in Raman spectroscopy, thus confirming its identification in our earlier Raman studies of the radiochemical reactions between tritium and carbon monoxide. This radiochemical production of tritiated water was naturally accompanied by decreases in partial pressures of both T2 and O2, although surprisingly not in the expected 2:1 ratio, but rather with the O2 disappearing totally when the T2 was only slightly over halfway depleted. Subsequently, after the disappearance of O2, the T2 partial pressure continued to decrease, but at a slower rate. The disappearance rates of both T2 and O2 were essentially the same (within 10%) whether dry or moist air was initially mixed with T2 with an O2 disappearance time of about 200 hours in both cases. The initial water in the moist-air mixture disappeared totally after about 15 hours, with no concomitant production of HT observed otherwise the evolution of the moist-air mixture was essentially identical to that of the dry-air mixture. In both cases the appearance of small quantities of carbon dioxide (CO2) was noted, presumably extracted by radiochemically driven reactions with stainless steel components. After chemical evolution of the moist-air mixture was observed for over four weeks, subsequent pressure measurements and mass-spectrometric analyses confirmed the Raman analyses, but added no additional clues to the radiochemical reactions taking place. A subsequent deuterium-tritium exchange experiment in the same cell revealed no mysterious sinks for tritium.