EXPERIENCES WITH DECONTAMINATING TRITIUM HANDLING APPARATUS

Tritium-handling apparatus has been decontaminated as part of the downsizing of the LLNL Tritium Facility. Two stainless-steel gloveboxes that had been used to process lithium deuteridetritide (LiDT) salt were decontaminated using the Portable Cleanup System so that they could be flushed with room air through the facility ventilation system. Further surface decontamination was performed by scrubbing the interior with paper towels and ethyl alcohol or Swish(TM). The surface contamination, as shown by swipe surveys, was reduced from 7 x 10(6) - 2 x 10(8) Bq/m2 (4 x 10(4) - 10(6) disintegrations per minute per square cm, or dpm/cm2) to 3 x 10(4) - 7 x 10(6) Bq/m2 (2 x 10(2) - 4 x 10(4) dpm/cm2). Details on the decontamination operation are provided. A series of metal (palladium and vanadium) hydride storage beds have been drained of tritium and flushed with deuterium, in order to remove as much tritium as possible. The bed draining and flushing procedure is described, and a calculational method is presented which allows estimation of the tritium remaining in a bed after it has been drained and flushed. Data on specific bed draining and flushing are given.