Thermal Cycling Absorption Process—A New Way to Separate Hydrogen Isotopes

The thermal cycling absorption process (TCAP) is a semi-continuous chromatographic process for hydrogen isotope separation developed at the Savannah River Technology Center (SRTC) of the Savannah River Site (SRS) to support the tritium production and recycling operations for the national defense program. Hydrogen has three isotopes—protium, deuterium, and tritium. Among these, protium is known as normal hydrogen. Deuterium and tritium are heavier isotopes and are used in weapon systems. Deuterium and tritium fuse to form helium plus a free neutron, then releasing huge amounts of energy (1.7 trillion joules per mole). This is the source of energy for boost weapons. Fusion also serves another vital national interest—energy security. The problem is that the separation process required to supply tritium is costly, cumbersome, and inefficient. The TCAP method is compact, safer, and more efficient and an important technology for supporting the weapons program as well as for future fusion reactor fuel processing.