System and method for producing helium-3 through heavy water reactor moderator heavy water

• Main Authors: SHEN YUN, YAO ZHAOHONG, ZHANG PENG, ZOU ZHENGYU, ZHENG YI, GAO XINGUO, LI SHISHENG, LI HOUWEN, LI CHANGDA, HU YUQIAO, XIONG XIAOHONG, WANG ZHONGHUI
• Format: Patent
• Language: Chinese; English
• Published: 20.01.2023
• Subjects: CHEMISTRY; COMPOUNDS THEREOF; DECONTAMINATION ARRANGEMENTS THEREFOR; INORGANIC CHEMISTRY; METALLURGY; NON-METALLIC ELEMENTS; NUCLEAR ENGINEERING; NUCLEAR PHYSICS; PHYSICS; PROTECTION AGAINST X-RADIATION, GAMMA RADIATION, CORPUSCULARRADIATION OR PARTICLE BOMBARDMENT; TREATING RADIOACTIVELY CONTAMINATED MATERIAL

The invention particularly relates to a method for producing helium-3 from moderator heavy water of a heavy water reactor, which comprises the following steps: step 1, carrying out negative pressure rectification on the moderator heavy water in a moderator system of a heavy water reactor unit to obtain concentrated high-tritium heavy water; step 2, performing beta decay on the concentrated high-tritium heavy water in the step 1 to generate helium-3 raw material gas; and step 3, carrying out activated carbon adsorption, helium-argon separation and hydrogen isotope gas adsorption on the helium-3 raw material gas obtained in the step 2 to obtain helium-3. According to the method for producing helium-3 through the heavy water reactor moderator and the heavy water, the technical difficulty and high cost of helium-3/helium-4 isotope separation are technically avoided, equipment and technologies possibly clamped by foreign countries do not exist, the technology maturity is high, and economical efficiency is good. 本发