Detritiation of type 316 stainless steel by treatment with liquids at ambient temperature

The detritiation efficiency of type 316 stainless steel (SS316) using liquids reagents (distilled deionized water, concentrated aqueous ammonia or a diluted hydrochloric acid/nitric acid mixture) was investigated at ambient temperature by means of liquid scintillation counting (LSC) and β-ray-induced X-ray spectrometry (BIXS). After a fast initial removal of tritium trapped on the outermost surface of SS316 with a rate in the order water < ammonia < acid mixture a slow chronic liberation of tritium into all three liquids sets in. First results indicate that chronic release occurs with a rate of approx. 0.2% per day. The long-term release was found to be largely independent from the kind of liquid agent into which the metal is submerged and from the initial loading of the SS316 specimen. From a practical point of view, the release rate of tritium into liquids is too slow for conditioning applications. Complementary evidence for the occurrence of a chronic liberation of tritium from SS316 into air at ambient temperature was obtained from tritium depth profiling of aged specimens by acid etching.