Tritium contamination and monitoring at Frascati Neutron Generator

The Frascati Neutron Generator (FGN) is a specialised 300 keV, 3 mA direct electrostatic deuteron accelerator which produces about 5-1011 14 MeV neutrons per second by D-T reactions on a tritium-titanium fixed target. This paper concerns the tritium contamination control and monitoring aspects after some months of testing and a preliminary period of operation of the plant. The tritium monitoring system is composed of both on-line and off-line devices to control the tritium concentration in the atmosphere measured from different parts of the plant: vacuum exhaust clean up (VECU) system, stack, etc. The on-line devices are three flux monitors, that sample continuosly the air from up to eight different points in the plant. The passive sampling system is designed to select the chemical form of tritium and to collect respectively HTO and HT in two different cartridges filled with an appropriate drying material. The response of the on-line tritium monitor system are exposed and discussed: some measurements performed with atmosphere dehumidifying apparatus of this system are described and the relevant results are analysed