Design, development and testing of prototype cold trap for Pb-16Li purification

Abstract Lead-Lithium Eutectic (Pb-16Li) is selected as a tritium breeder, neutron multiplier as well as a coolant in the IN LLCB TBM. During the operation of Lead Lithium cooling loop, which is one of the major ancillary systems of IN LLCB TBM, Pb-16Li in the loop gets contaminated by the impurities generated due to corrosion of structural materials as well as oxide impurities. In order to remove those impurities and maintain the purity of Pb-16Li, a Cold Trap (CT) has been proposed. The present work illustrates the design, development and testing of a prototype mesh based CT. The objective of this experiment is to achieve the desired temperature and flow rate in the CT. These two parameters are responsible for the deposition of impurities in the CT. During the experiment, the desired temperature (∼294 °C) and flow rate (∼0.1 kg/s) have been maintained inside the CT. The post experimental analysis of the CT mesh suggests the deposition of oxide impurities (Li 2 O, PbO and Pb 2 O) on it.