Laker TRF | Our story
A legacy of engineering advancement in water and air detritiation, at nuclear power plants.
While water distillation systems are currently in use in all CANDU® nuclear power stations, they primarily use full-diameter layers of packing separated by liquid distributors. In 2015, Laker TRF began planning our Tritium Removal Facility with the goal of making the process more efficient.
Today, our Advanced Water Distillation (AWD) design uses an advanced design for increased scalability, efficiency and safety that incorporates:
• Super-hydrophilic corrosion-resistant stainless-steel packing
• High-efficiency packing
• Our proprietary glass coating activation process
• Khun-style columns made from multiple internal columns of identical diameter
A Laker TRF commercial-sized tritium removal facility, regardless of capacity, simply consists of multiple internal columns identical in diameter to the test column, using the identical packing. Performance of a commercial facility can therefore be directly extrapolated from the proven test column performance.
Our timeline
2015
• Laker TRF successfully performs proof-of-concept testing for our Advanced Water Distillation (AWD) system at the Bruce B Heavy Water Upgrader.
2018-2019
• After experimentation with packing types (random, structured phosphor-bronze, and stainless steel) activated stainless-steel structured packing is selected. This eliminates the corrosion issues associated with conventional bronze packing.
2019
• Laker TRF conducts Light water HETP tests (H20/HTO) to determine separation factors for various packings. Consistent results in the range of 3.44 cm to 4.05 cm are achieved.
• We also conduct Heavy water HETP tests (D2O/DTO) to determine separation factors for various packing, with similarly repeatable results.
• High-efficiency packing design and activation processes finalized.
2020 – 2021
• Laker TRF supplies super-hydrophilic activated SS packing to wet scrubber columns at the Darlington nuclear power plant. This significantly exceeds design detritiation requirements
2023
• Air detritiation test rig built for comparative testing of larger diameter structured packing.
Ready to learn more?
Tel: (905) 399-3231