Tracking of tritium charged into stainless steel by BIXS

Abstract Retention and release behavior of tritium charged into stainless steel type 316 by two different methods were tracked by β-ray-induced X-ray spectrometry (BIXS). Exposure to tritium gas and irradiation of tritium ions were employed. Effects of pre-irradiation of helium ions on tritium retention were also investigated. After charging tritium by these methods and tracking by BIXS, thermal release behavior of tritium was examined by BIXS. The observed X-ray spectrum showed clearly that thermally charged tritium at a high temperature diffused into the bulk of SS316, but tritium ions irradiated at room temperature were trapped in surface layers of the sample irrespective of tritium ion energy. Thermally charged tritium was not able to remove completely even heating at high temperature of 973 K. On the contrary, it was seen that the ion-irradiated tritium decreased almost linearly with temperature irrespective of ion energy. Furthermore, rapid decrease of tritium appeared in the helium pre-irradiated samples.