Description of capability

George Larsen et al. at Savannah River National Laboratory propose to use tritium-resistant oils and then detritiate and purify the tritiated oil. This would be combined with commercially-available hydrogen separation membranes to reduce tritium inventory.

Key people

George Larsen

Technology Readiness Level (1-9)

2

Needs that this could potentially address

Durable tritium-compatible vacuum pumps

Tech specs

According to the inventors, compared to State of the Art:

  • 4× reduction in tritium inventory
  • 10× reduction in auxiliary electrical consumption
  • 50× reduction in pump system costs
  • 140× reduction pump operational costs

Estimated time & cost to commercialize

Unknown

Outstanding risks

Unknown

References

Larsen et al., ‘EM-Enhanced HyPOR Loop for Fast Fusion Cycles’, Presentation at 2023 ARPA-E Fusion Programs Annual Meeting