Test facility for vapor adsorption using molecular sieve in helium coolant purification system

Nuclear fusion reactor has own tritium breeding system. HCS (Helium cooling system) removes the heat from the Tokamak and the tritium breeding system by circulating high pressure helium. Since the breeding zone is established at high temperature and high pressure, and has thin steal wall for effective heat transfer, a small amount of tritium can be permeated to HCS from the tritium breeding zone. Since it can be exposed to external environment, it should be removed for safety requirements in the system. The coolant purification system (CPS) will play a role to capture the tritium in HCS. 1 % of helium flow is bypassed in CPS from HCS and is purified through several steps. In the system, a molecular sieve bed (MSB) will capture the oxidized tritium Q2O, through physical adsorption. To develop and confirm the MSB design and its function, the test facility is designed by KAERI and NFRI. Tests will be performed to compare absorption rate and saturation characteristics according to diameter, length, and flow rate. Through the research, it is expected that a more reliable CPS design could experimentally be derived 2. Methods and Results