Design and performance testing of a tritium calorimeter

Calorimetry offers several advantages over other measurement techniques for tritium accounting. For this reason a calorimeter specifically designed for accepting the portable tritium getters utilised in ETHEL was acquired. This paper discusses the general construction of the ETHEL tritium calorimeter, and the initial performance tests using various types of heat source. The tests have shown that power measurements over a large range can be rapidly undertaken with accuracies equal or surpassing those of more conventional techniques. On this basis, it is envisaged that the calorimeter will be employed as the laboratoryʹs primary tritium assay device.