Keith L Wickham

Title: Innovations of Keith L Wickham in Tritium Monitoring

Introduction

Keith L Wickham is an accomplished inventor based in Idaho Falls, ID (US). He is known for his significant contributions to the field of tritium monitoring and collection systems. His innovative approach has led to the development of a unique system that effectively measures and collects tritium from inert gas streams.

Latest Patents

Wickham holds a patent for a Tritium monitor and collection system. This system is designed to measure tritium on-line and collect it from a flowing inert gas stream. It efficiently separates tritium from other non-hydrogen isotope contaminating gases, whether they are radioactive or not. The collecting portion of the system is constructed from various zirconium alloys known as getters. These alloys are capable of adsorbing tritium in any of its forms at one temperature and releasing it as a gas at a higher temperature. The system comprises four on-line getters and heaters, two ion chamber detectors, two collection getters, and two guard getters.

When the incoming gas stream is valved through the on-line getters, 99.9% of it is adsorbed, while the remainder continues to the guard getter, where traces of tritium not collected earlier are adsorbed. The inert gas stream then exits the system to the decay chamber. Once the on-line getter has collected tritium for a predetermined time, it is valved off, and the next on-line getter is valved on. Simultaneously, the first getter is heated, and a pure helium purge is employed to carry the tritium from the getter. The tritium-loaded gas stream is then routed through an ion chamber that measures the tritium activity. The ion chamber effluent passes through a collection getter that readsorbs the tritium and is removable from the system once it is loaded, being replaced with a clean getter. Prior to the removal of the collection getter, the system switches to a parallel collection getter. The effluent from the collection getter passes through a guard getter to remove traces of tritium before exiting the system. The tritium-loaded collection getter, once removed, is analyzed using liquid scintillation techniques. The entire sequence is under computer control, except for the removal and analysis of the collection getter.

Career Highlights

Wickham's work has been instrumental in advancing the