Simulation of tritium behavior after intended tritium release in ventilated room

At the Tritium Process Laboratory (TPL) at the Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute (JAERI), Caisson Assembly for Tritium Safety study (CATS) with 12 m3 of large airtight vessel (Caisson) was fabricated for confirmation and enhancement of fusion reactor safety to estimate tritium behavior in the case where a tritium leak event should happen. One of the principal objectives of the present studies is the establishment of simulation method to predict the tritium behavior after the tritium leak event should happen in a ventilated room. The RNG model was found to be valid for eddy flow calculation in the 50 m3/h ventilated Caisson with acceptable engineering precision. The calculated initial and removal tritium concentration histories after intended tritium release were consistent with the experimental observations in the 50 m3/h ventilated Caisson. It is found that the flow near a wall plays an important role for the tritium transport in the ventilated room. On the other hand, tritium behavior intentionally released in the 3,000 m3 of tritium handling room was investigated experimentally under a US-Japan collaboration. The tritium concentration history calculated with the same method was consistent with the experimental observations, which proves that the present developed method can be applied to the actual scale of tritium handling room. (author)