Electrolyser for CECE process

A combined electrolysis catalytic exchange (CECE) facility employing a liquid phase catalytic exchange (LPCE) column for water detritiation is currently being studied at the tritium treatment laboratory in KAERI, which is also adopted for water detritiation in JET, ITER, and TLK (tritium laboratory Karlsruhe). The CECE facility is needed for process performance studies, to support the design of the Water Detritiation System for the nuclear industry, such as nuclear reactor operations and a radioisotope production, and medical research. The design and commissioning of this demonstration scale facility to investigate the achievable tritium decontamination factor are ongoing. A simple schematic of the CECE process is shown in Figure 1. The key elements of the facility are an electrolyser for conversion of tritiated water to gaseous hydrogen, and a LPCE column where this hydrogen is detritiated via isotopic exchange with liquid water