Kinectrics provides advanced design capabilities for tritium systems and has been involved with the design of the Fuel Processing Loop for NET. More recently, Kinectrics designed the Deuterium Purification System and the Cryogenic Distillation System for the Large Scale Wolsong Tritium Removal Plant in Korea.
The process steps include low temperature catalytic oxidation for oxygen removal, dual bed regenerative molecular sieve drying, cryogenic adsorption of impurities and cryogenic distillation of hydrogen using helium refrigeration.
The distillation system produces >99% pure T2, which is transferred to metal hydride beds for safe, secure long-term storage. Initially the distillation system will process 50,000 Curies of tritium every 8 hours to storage. This cascade is powered by a 35 kW helium refrigerator.
The CD is the result of a 20 year development effort that included:
Multi-column design
Modeling of distillation columns for Hydrogen Isotope Separation including Pulsed Feeds
Feed points
Packing selection
Condenser / reboiler designs
Cool down / warm up limits / requirements
Code Requirements for low temperature materials, etc
Materials for beta and gamma activity
High leak integrity systems
Design & construction of distillation columns
High vacuum systems
Temperature Instrumentation
Control methodology
Design of vacuum jacketing of lines
Design of double containment
Design & construction of auxiliary equipment / plate HX / gas pumps for CD
Transportation requirements
Failure scenarios
The overall plant design including the Deuterium Purification System involved:
Design reviews & design activities including:
Design, reliability lifetime requirements
Flow sheets & drawings
Nuclear classifications
Physical properties database
Momentum, heat and mass balances
Piping & instrument diagrams complete with equipment, valve, instrument and line numbers, material specs,
Quality code requirements
Electrical code requirements for hazardous areas
Mechanical / seismic code requirements
Jurisdictional requirements
HAZOP
Safety instrumented system requirements
Interfaces with other systems requirements
Utilities Requirements
Overpressure protection & report
Licensing support / inventories
Space / layout requirements
General arrangement drawings
Design verification
Technical specifications
Component specification sheets
Material requirements
Instrument requirements for hazardous areas
Inspection and test requirements
Shipping requirements
Nuclear equipment suppliers list
Engineering Quotation Requests
Bid Evaluations
Manufacturing / witnessing plans
Detailed documents / drawings review & acceptance
Design & inspection reports
Design registration
Design manual preparation
Instrument loop narratives
Operating manual preparation (start-up, shutdown normal / abnormal)
Maintenance manual & spares
Installation & commissioning support
Plant performance acceptance
Project engineering