Design, setup and routine operation of a water treatment system for the monitoring of low activities of tritium in water

International audienceIn the TRITIUM project, an on-site monitoring system is being developed to measure tritium (3H) levels in water near nuclear power plants. The quite low-energy betas emitted by 3H have a very short average path in water (5 μm as shown by simulations for 18 keV electrons). This path would be further reduced by impurities present in the water, resulting in a significant reduction of the detection efficiency. Therefore, one of the essential requirements of the project is the elimination of these impurities through a filtration process and the removal of salts in solution. This paper describes a water treatment system developed for the project that meets the following requirements: the water produced should be of near-pure water quality according to ISO 3696 grade 3 standard (conductivity < 10 μS/cm); the system should operate autonomously and be remotely monitored