Calibrations of a tritium extraction facility

Abstract

A tritium extraction facility has been built for the purpose of measuring the absolute tritium concentration in neutron-irradiated lithium metal samples. Two independent calibration procedures have been used to determine what fraction, if any, of tritium is lost during the extraction process. The first procedure compares independently measured /sup 4/He and /sup 3/H concentrations from the /sup 6/Li(n,..cap alpha..)T reaction. The second procedure compared measured /sup 6/Li(n,..cap alpha..)T//sup 197/Au (n,..gamma..)/sup 198/Au thermal neutron reaction rate ratios with those obtained from Monte Carlo calculations using well-known cross sections. Both calibration methods show that within experimental errors (approx. 1.5%) no tritium is lost during the extraction process