Design and experimental activities in view of Water Detritiation–Isotopic Separation Systems combination in TRENTA facility

To support the research activities needed to characterize the performance of various components for the Water Detritiation System (WDS) and the Isotope Separation System (ISS) processes needed for the ITER design, an experimental facility called TRENTA, simulating for the ITER WDS and ISS protium separation column, has been commissioned at Tritium Laboratory Karlsruhe (TLK). The TRENTA facility has been conceived to allow operation in a closed loop with respect to tritium inventory and to allow investigations of key design and operation issues of combined CECE (Combined Electrolytic Catalytic Exchange) and CD (Cryogenic Distillation) processes in similar conditions as envisaged for the ITER WDS–ISS. Activities combining CECE and CD processes are on going at TLK. For the CD system, dedicated heat-exchangers have been designed and manufactured to make the combination possible. The system of heat-exchangers has to provide a double barrier to avoid tritium contamination of the helium stream. The design of the heat-exchangers for feeding of the CD column, equilibrator loop and condenser will be presented. In addition, the ongoing experimental activities for to the investigation of different CD fillings will be presented.