Published date: 21 December 2021

This notice was replaced on 22 December 2021

This notice does not contain the most up-to-date information about this procurement. The most recent notice is:

Opportunity (published 22 December 2021)

Closed opportunity - This means that the contract is currently closed. The buying department may be considering suppliers that have already applied, or no suitable offers were made.


Contract summary

Industry

  • Laboratory, optical and precision equipments (excl. glasses) - 38000000

  • Miscellaneous evaluation or testing instruments - 38900000

  • Nuclear evaluation instruments - 38940000

    • Alpha beta counters - 38942000

    • Beta counters - 38943000

Location of contract

Any region

Value of contract

£1 to £160,000

Procurement reference

20211221153107-72814

Published date

21 December 2021

Closing date

24 January 2022

Closing time

12pm

Contract start date

25 January 2022

Contract end date

26 January 2022

Contract type

Supply contract

Procedure type

Open procedure

Any interested supplier may submit a tender in response to an opportunity notice.

Contract is suitable for SMEs?

Yes

Contract is suitable for VCSEs?

No

Description

Tritium (3H or T) is the only radioactive isotope of hydrogen and it is used to fuel fusion reactions at JET. In materials containing hydrogen, present tritium atoms will exchange with hydrogen atoms to form tritiated molecules of the material. This property of tritium is used for trapping tritium in water from the gas passing through the water. However, trapping of gaseous tritium (HT/T2) in such way is more difficult than tritiated water molecules. Therefore, oxidation of the sampled air has to take place during the sampling stage, so it is ensured that all tritium is sampled. The main exposure route to tritium is via inhalation. If tritium in gaseous form (HT, DT, T2) is inhaled, only small fraction of it is not exhaled, but dissolved in the blood stream and then exhaled after a few minutes. Tritium in form of water (HTO, DTO, T2O) is adsorbed through the skin and in the lungs from inhaled gases. Tritiated water is retained in the body for ~10 days which is its biological half-life. Therefore, exposure to tritiated water in air is up to 25000 times more hazardous than exposure to gaseous tritium. UKAEA's research on detritiation of fusion materials requires on-line monitoring of tritium released during various experimental activities in order to correctly identify optimal parameters of the experimental set-up.

More information

Links

About the buyer

Contact name

Abigail Woods

Address

Culham Science Centre
Abingdon
OX14 3DB
ENG

Telephone

+44 1235467082

Email

abigail.woods@ukaea.uk

Website

www.gov.uk/government/organisations/uk-atomic-energy-authority