Early experience with the Tritium Systems Test Assembly

The Tritium Systems Test Assembly (TSTA) project at Los Alamos is charged with developing and demonstrating the tritium technology required to fuel a deuterium-tritium burning fusion reactor and to develop and evaluate the personnel and environmental safety systems associated with the tritium facility. The TSTA project completed the construction phase in late 1982 and is currently in the component checkout and early experimental phase. Tritium introduction is scheduled for mid-summer 1983. Several major systems have been operated and tested with hydrogen and deuterium. These include the vacuum pump, the isotope separation system and the emergency tritium cleanup system. The results of the early experiments are summarized and the experimental programs for other systems are presented