On the Possibility of Using an Electrochemical Hydrogen Pump in a Fuel Cycle of Fusion Devices

The fuel cycle (FC) of a fusion reactor includes the following operations with hydrogen-containing gas mixtures: tokamak pumping, hydrogen isotope extraction from tokamak exhaust, tritium separation from hydrogen-containing impurities, separation of hydrogen isotopes, fuel injection into plasma, processing of tritium-containing radioactive waste. Processing and purification of fuel is a delicate and multistage process, the increased requirements for which are justified by considerations of radiation safety and economic efficiency. Fusion devices and hence FCs fusion differ significantly in scale, functional features, and amount and flux of tritium in systems, which makes it practically impossible to use the same technologies in different installations. This leads to the need to consider the possibility of using new technologies in FC systems and to find and develop systems based on efficient technologies for extracting hydrogen isotopes from gas mixtures. One such technology is the electrochemical hydrogen pump (EHP). There are three types of EHP based on solid oxide electrolyte (SOE), phosphate electrolyte (PHE) and solid polymer electrolyte (SPE). The article considers the possibility of using EHP in various FC systems for selective pumping of the fuel mixture, purification of the fuel mixture from impurities, and tritium separation from the breeder gas, as well as for other purposes.