Recovery of tritium from tritiated molecules

A method is described of removing tritium from a mixture of tritiated molecules of primarily water comprising the steps of: (a) Precharging a reactor chamber having first and second ends with a mixture of uranium particles and an inert substance within the side walls thereof; (b) Preheating the reactor chamber to at least 5000C; (c) Preheating the tritiated water to a temperature of at least 5000C to convert the water to superheated steam; (d) Injecting the steam into the first end of the reactor chamber to produce a traveling front, highly excelthermic reaction zone of temperatures in excess of 9000C from the first end of the reactor to the second end thereof. This results in substantially complete decomposition of the steam to remove tritium therefrom, and substantially complete conversion of the uranium to uranium dioxide. The inert substance serves as an insulator and a diluent to allow for volumetric expansion of the uranium as it reacts with the steam; and (e) Recovering tritium from the second end of the reactor chamber