Tritium generation and neutron measurements in Pd-Si under high deuterium gas pressure

This paper summarizes some of the methods applicable for low level tritium detection needed in the search for anomalous fusion in metal hydrides. It is also intended to further detail our tritium and neutron results that have been obtained with the Pd-Si-D system, originally presented at earlier workshops. A measure of reproducibility that was not evident in our previous work has been achieved partially due to the better detection sensitivity afforded by the use of low tritium deuterium and partially from the fact that the foil-wafer cells can be made with nearly identical electrical characteristics. This reproducibility has allowed us to narrow the optimum conditions for the experiment. While this experiment is rather different from the standard'' electrolytic cell or the Ti gas hydride experiment, similarities exist in that non equilibrium conditions are sought and the tritium generation levels are low and neutron emission is extremely weak. In contrast to many electrochemical cell experiments, the system used in these experiments is completely sealed during operation and uses no electrolyte. The major improvements to the experiment have been the use of vary low tritium deuterium for the hydriding and the replacement of the aluminum neutron counter tubes with ones of stainless steel. These changes have resulted in pronounced improvements to the detection systems since the background tritium level in the gas has been reduced by a factor of 300 and the neutron background has been decreased by a factor of 14. 16 refs., 8 figs., 1 tab