Fundamental study on decontamination of tritium from gaseous phases by copper oxide

Some fundamental studies on removal of tritium from gaseous streams by a small column of copper oxide were carried out. An about 10 cm length of column packed with 100 g of copper oxide was examined on the conversion ratios of hydrogen and tritium into water. The experiment with hydrogen of 0.1% in argon showed that the logarithmic plot of remaining ratio of hydrogen by passing through the column is proportional to the reciprocal of gas flow rate and to the length of oxide column. The oxide column was also used for treating tritium-bearing waste gas from an evacuating system of alpha D-T neutron generator. It was observed that at column temperatures lower than 450 degrees C the conversion ratio of tritium in the waste gas into water is considerably smaller than that of hydrogen of 0.1% in argon.