National Nuclear Security Administration Tritium Supply Chain

Savannah River Site plays a critical role in the Tritium Production Supply Chain for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). The entire process includes: Production of Tritium Producing Burnable Absorber Rods (TPBARs) at the Westinghouse WesDyne Nuclear Fuels Plant in Columbia, South Carolina, Production of unobligated Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) at the United States Enrichment, Corporation (USEC) in Portsmouth, Ohio, Irradiation of TPBARs with the LEU at the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Watts Bar, Reactor Extraction of tritium from the irradiated TPBARs at the Tritium Extraction Facility (TEF) at Savannah River Site,Processing the tritium at the Savannah River Site, which includes removal of non-hydrogen species and separation of the hydrogen isotopes of protium, deuterium and tritium.