NOT MEASUREMENT SENSITIVE DOE-HDBK-1129-2007 March 2007 ____________________ DOE HANDBOOK TRITIUM HANDLING AND SAFE STORAGE U.S. Department of Energy AREA SAFT Washington, D.C. 20585 DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT A. Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited. DOE-HDBK-1129-2007 This page is intentionally blank. ii DOE-HDBK-1129-2007 TABLE OF CONTENTS SECTION PAGE FOREWORD............................................................................................................................... vii ACRONYMS ................................................................................................................................ ix 1.0 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................1 1.1 Purpose ...............................................................................................................................1 1.2 Scope ..................................................................................................................................1 1.3 Applicability .........................................................................................................................1 1.4 Referenced Material for Further Information .......................................................................2 2.0 TRITIUM .................................................................................................................................3 2.1 Radioactive Properties ........................................................................................................4 2.2 Physical Properties..............................................................................................................4 2.3 Chemical Properties ............................................................................................................5 2.4 Biological Properties............................................................................................................5 2.5 Preferred Forms ..................................................................................................................7 3.0 BASIC TRITIUM REGULATORY INFORMATION................................................................17 3.1 Tritium Accountability ........................................................................................................17 3.2 Tritium Safeguards and Security .......................................................................................21 3.3 Tritium Facility Safety Analysis and Regulatory Quantity Limits........................................22 3.4 Radiological Materials Quantity Limits ..............................................................................26 3.5 Tritium Unpackaging, Handling, and Packaging Areas, Quantity Limits ...........................27 3.6 Tritium Waste Collection and Waste Packaging Area, Quantity Limits .............................27 3.7 Tritium Focus Group (TFG) ...............................................................................................27 4.0 FACILITY DESIGN ...............................................................................................................27 4.1 Tritium System Philosophy................................................................................................27 4.2 Building Ventilation System...............................................................................................37 4.3 Chilled Water System........................................................................................................39 4.4 Seismic and Wind Design and Evaluation of Structures and Facilities .............................39 4.5 Other Design Considerations ............................................................................................41 4.6 Lessons Learned...............................................................................................................42 5.0 DESIGN OF EQUIPMENT....................................................................................................45 5.1 Material Compatibility ........................................................................................................46 5.2 First Wall Design ...............................................................................................................51 5.3 Secondary Wall Design .....................................................................................................52 5.4 Cleanup System Design....................................................................................................52 5.5 Storage System Design.....................................................................................................52 5.6 Surveillance and Maintenance ..........................................................................................54 5.7 Seismic Considerations.....................................................................................................54 5.8 Fire Scenarios ...................................................................................................................60 5.9 Instrumentation..................................................................................................................60 6.0 TRITIUM PURCHASING AND RECEIVING .........................................................................65 6.1 Shipping Packages............................................................................................................65 6.2 Product Containers............................................................................................................66 6.3 Valve Container Operations ..............................................................................................68 iii DOE-HDBK-1129-2007 6.4 Receiving Tritium...............................................................................................................72 6.5 Storage of Packaged Nuclear Materials............................................................................72 6.6 Interim Storage of Tritiated Materials……………………………………………...…………. 73 7.0 PACKAGING AND TRANSPORTATION..............................................................................75 7.1 General Administrative Packaging and Transport Requirements......................................75 7.2 Selection of Proper Packaging ..........................................................................................76 7.3 Package Loading and Preparation for Shipment...............................................................82 7.4 Documentation and Records.............................................................................................83 7.5 Quality Assurance/Control Requirements .........................................................................87 8.0 TRITIUM WASTE MANAGEMENT.......................................................................................88 8.1 Approved Limits for the Release of Contaminated Materials and Property Containing Residual Radioactive........................................................................................................89 8.2 Waste Characterization .....................................................................................................96 8.3 Waste Packaging ............................................................................................................101 8.4 Waste Shipping ...............................................................................................................102 FIGURES: FIGURE 2-1. Rate of tritium decay of one mole of tritium.............................................................4 FIGURE 2-2. Pressure versus time in a container of tritium .........................................................5 FIGURE 2-3. Comparison of aqueous tritium levels found in the nuclear industry.......................8 FIGURE 2-4. Dissociation pressure for uranium, hydride, deuteride, and tritide ........................11 FIGURE 2-5. Plot of a good fit curve for the dissociation pressure of uranium hydride, deuteride, and tritide .............................................................................................11 FIGURE 2-6. Dissociation pressure of palladium hydride and deuteride....................................13 FIGURE 4-1. Tritium facility single-pass ventilation system........................................................29 FIGURE 4-2. Secondary containment ........................................................................................31 FIGURE 4-3. Secondary confinement ........................................................................................31 FIGURE 4-4.a Building confinement system ..............................................................................32 FIGURE 4-4.b Typical double containment configuration...........................................................32 FIGURE 4-5. Typical gas-to-water tritium removal system flow schematic ................................33 FIGURE 4-6. Confinement volume cleanup rate as a function of system time constant, F/V, assuming an exponential dilution rate...................................................................35 FIGURE 5-1. Development of the seismic equipment list...........................................................57 FIGURE 5-2. Comparison of seismic capacity spectra to seismic demand spectra ...................59 FIGURE 6-1. Use of double valve container...............................................................................69 FIGURE 6-2. Purge ports