Airborne tritium controls - DOE-HDBK-1141-2001

Radiological Assessor Training

DOE-HDBK-1141-2001

Student's Guide

3. Tertiary - Room and associated ventilation systems

Effluent recovery systems

Emergency containment systems

H. Airborne tritium controls

1. Differential room pressure zones - The air

ventilation system plays a key role in controlling

the spread of contamination. In addition to

providing the necessary humidity and

temperature control for a building, differential

pressure zones should be established within a

building to ensure that the air flows from areas

with lower hazardous contamination potential to

areas with more hazardous contamination

potential.

2. Dilution ventilation - Dilution ventilation is the

once-through flow technique of exchanging

outside air for inside air for comfort and basic

contamination control.

3. Room-air detritiation systems - Such a system

uses tritium monitors located in the room

exhaust to activate (close) fast acting dampers.

The dampers then route the exhaust through a

special oxidation/drying system and return the

air to the room.

3. Local exhaust ventilation - The primary

advantage of local exhaust ventilation

techniques is the removal of airborne tritium,

regardless of its evolution rate or chemical or

physical form. In addition, these techniques

use relatively low flow rates compared to

normal ventilation requirements.

Module 7 - 9