TRENTA (Water detritation and cryogenic distillation)

In the Fusion Program, a system to detritiate water has to be developed experimentally, i.e. tritium has to be chemically extracted from water in combination with the cryogenic distillation of hydrogen isotopes. These experiments aim to obtain data for the design of the complete Water Detritation System (WDS) and Isotope Separation System (ISS) required by ITER.

The well-known CECE (Combined Electrolysis Catalytic Exchange) process is used for the detritation of water. Its main components are an electrolyser and an eight meter long liquid phase catalytic exchange column (LPCE). First experiments with tritiated water have been successful.
In parallel with the CECE process, a cryogenic distillation plant has been installed. The major features of the cryo-distillation system are a refrigerator with a maximum cooling power of 250 W, and a specially designed cold box. Recently an inactive gaseous mixture of protium and deuterium has been liquefied and separated during the commissioning of this system.