Experience gained during the modification of the Caprice system to Caper

The experimental facility Caprice was designed to comply with the requirements for clean-up of tokamak exhaust gases. In the last 3 years simulated fusion exhaust gases containing 7 g of tritium have been processed with this facility achieving detritiation factors of up to 106. New requirements specifying detritiation factors of about 108 triggered the addition of a further tritium recovery step to the two already existing process loops. The main component of the third step is the so-called Permcat, a permeator–catalyst combination designed for isotopic swamping in a counter current mode. The upgrade of Caprice to the new system is now called Caper and involved the replacement of highly contaminated pipe work and the installation of an additional glove box, which houses the new components for the third loop as well as further equipment needed for the continuous operation of Caper.