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2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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Fusion Science and Technology
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Researchers use one-of-a-kind expertise and capabilities to test fuels of tomorrow
At the Idaho National Laboratory Hot Fuel Examination Facility, containment box operator Jake Maupin moves a manipulator arm into position around a pencil-thin nuclear fuel rod. He is preparing for a procedure that he and his colleagues have practiced repeatedly in anticipation of this moment in the hot cell.
J. D. Baker, D. H. Meikrantz, R. J. Pawelko, R. A. Anderl, D. G. Tuggle
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 27 | Number 2 | March 1995 | Pages 8-13
doi.org/10.13182/FST95-A11963798
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A zirconium-manganese-iron alloy, St 909, was evaluated as a purifier in tritium handling, transport, and storage applications. High efficiency removal of CH4, CO, CO2, NH3, and O2 was observed at concentrations of 0.1 to 1% in helium. Gas streams at 100 to 5000 sccm were passed through getters operated at 600–800°C. On-getter residence times of two seconds were required to achieve >99% removal of these reactive impurities. At this removal efficiency level, the individual impurity capacity of 100 g of St 909 purifier at 800°C was 0.59, 0.28, 0.19, 0.14 and 0.12 moles of CH4, CO, CO2, O2 and NH3, respectively. Hydrogen containing gasses; CH4 and NH3; were cracked on the purifier and the resultant elemental hydrogen was released. Only 8 ± 2 scc of H2 were retained on 100 g of St 909 at 800°C. These features suggest that this alloy can be employed as an efficient purifier for hydrogen isotopes in inert gas, nitrogen, or perhaps even H, D, or T streams.