Refurbishing tritium contaminated ion sources

Extended tritium experimentation on TFTR has necessitated refurbishing Neutral Beam Long Pulse Ion Sources (LPIS) which developed operational difficulties, both in the TFTR Test Cell and later, in the NE Source Refurbishment Shop. Shipping contaminated sources off-site for repair was not permissible from a transport and safety perspective. Therefore, the NE source repair facility was upgraded by relocating fixtures, tooling, test apparatus, and three-axis coordinate measuring equipment; purchasing and fabricating fume hoods; installing exhaust vents; and providing a controlled negative pressure environment in the source degreaser/decon area. Appropriate air flow monitors, pressure indicators, tritium detectors and safety alarms were also included. The effectiveness of various decontamination methods was explored while the activation was monitored. Procedures and methods were developed to permit complete disassembly and rebuild of an ion source while continuously exhausting the internal volume to the TFTR Stack to avoid concentrations of tritium from outgassing and minimize personnel exposure. This paper presents upgrades made to the LPIS repair facility, various repair tasks performed, and discusses the effectiveness of the decontamination processes utilized.