Tritium behavior in the Caisson, a simulated fusion reactor room

In order to confirm tritium confinement ability in the deuterium-tritium (DT) fusion reactor, intentional tritium release experiments have been started in a specially fabricated test stand called 'Caisson', at Tritium Process Laboratory in Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute. The Caisson is a stainless steel leak-tight vessel of 12 m(3), simulating a reactor room or a tritium handling room. In the first stage experiments, about 260 MBq of pure tritium was put into the Caisson under simulated constant Ventilation of four times air exchanges per h. The tritium mixing and migration in the Caisson was investigated with tritium contamination measurement and detritiation behavior measurement. The experimental tritium migration and removal behavior was almost perfectly reproduced and could almost be simulated by a three-dimensional flow analysis code. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.