Equilibrium distributions of tritium in liquid lithium/molten salt systems

The distribution coefficient of tritium between liquid lithium and selected molten lithium halides was measured to examine the feasibility of tritium recovery process by extraction with molten salt. The chemical state of tritium in both phases was found to be mainly the T-(LiT) state. The concentrations of tritium in the T+ and T0 states were both much smaller, by more than one order, than that in the T- state. The distribution coefficient of tritium, defined as the ratio of mole fractions of LiT, was determined for each salt to be 3-7 at 773-1073 K. The temperature dependence of the distribution coefficient was clearly observed; the higher the temperature, the smaller the coefficients. Some dependences of the distribution coefficient on salt composition were observed and explained by taking the corresponding state theory for tritium activity in salts. (orig.)