Management of Tritium in European Spallation Source

The European Spallation Source (ESS) will produce tritium via spallation and activation processes during operational activities. Within the location of ESS facility in Lund, Sweden site it is mandatory to demonstrate that the management strategy of the produced tritium ensures the compliance with the country regulation criteria.

The aim of this paper is to give an overview of the different aspects of the tritium management in ESS facility. Besides the design parameter study of the helium coolant purification system of the target the consequences of the tritium releasing into the environment were also analyzed. Calculations shown that the annual release of tritium during the normal operations represents a small fraction from the estimated total dose.

However, more refined calculations of migration of activated-groundwater should be performed for higher hydraulic conductivities, with the availability of the results on soil examinations. With the assumption of 100% release of tritium to the atmosphere during the occurring of the extreme accidents, it was found as well that the total dose complies with the constraint.