A water detritiation facility, based on a world-wide adopted Combined Electrolysis Catalytic Exchange (CECE) process, for the JET Active Gas Handling plant is described. A research and development programme is presented. The programme includes the testing of structured inert packing with an incorporated hydrophobic catalyst for increased throughput of a Liquid Phase Catalytic Exchange (LPCE) column, a Vapour Phase Catalytic Exchange (VPCE) process for reduction of tritium inventory in the alkali electrolyser and a column of high effectiveness for alkali retention.