Water distillation as a method of detritiation of heavy-water moderator

A D2O distillation column cascade for detritiating the heavy-water moderator of a nuclear reactor has been optimized for maintaining a steady-state tritium concentration of 5 Ci/kg therein. Use of a structured rolled ribbon–screw packing in columns with a large diameter and a random small-sized spiral prismatic packing at the final stage makes it possible to attain the necessary degree of separation in a five-column cascade at capital and operating costs typical of deprotiation.