THERMAL SEPARATION OF TRITIUM AND APPARATUS THEREFOR

摘要

A method and apparatus is provided for the thermal separation of tritium from a sample of nominally-radioactive material which comprises stripping tritium from said material into a stream of humidified gas. The sample of material is placed in a furnace and the humidified gas is introduced therein to pass over and/or through the sample. Any tritium in the sample is transferred to the passing gas. The humidified gas is then cooled and the water condensate subjected to scintillation counting. In one embodiment of the invention the humidified gas is initially an inert gas which after a pre-determined period is replaced by humidified air or oxygen which allows controlled combustion of the sample.