Mound operational experience with tritium differentiating ethylene glycol air samplers

Since early 1976 Mound Facility has used ethylene glycol bubblers in conjunction with a hot palladium sponge catalyst to determine HTO/HT ratios as well as total tritium in stack effluent streams. Performance and the overall operational experience with this technique over a four-year period have been excellent. This method of tritium monitoring has provided capabilities not attainable with ionization chamber monitors. A total systems calibration revealed the deficiencies not only of these real-time monitoring systems but also of the stack flow measuring and stack sampling techniques. Recent design and hardware changes have improved the air samplers installed in 1975. The palladium sponge catalyst demonstrated no change in effectiveness after more than 4 yr of operation. Recent investigations are directed toward adapting this technique for environmental monitoring