High resolution studies by Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry of the spatial distribution of tritium in neutron irradiated beryllium pebbles

A key issue of beryllium as a neutron multiplier in the blanket of future fusion reactors is tritium retention. Models are under development in order to predict tritium release kinetics in the typical operating conditions of the material in the blanket: the absence of experimental data in this range imposes an extrapolation of the models, therefore a detailed characterization and understanding of microscopic diffusion phenomena related to macroscopic tritium release is necessary. It has been recently shown, that the availability of evidence on such phenomena at a scale of 1 micron down to tens of nanometers enables a relevant progress in the effectiveness of model validation: therefore the need for applying and developing advanced analytical techniques based on mass spectrometry at this scale. A study of tritium spatial distribution in neutron irradiated beryllium pebbles (2 mm diameter, 480 appm 4He, 7 appm 3H) by means of Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) is presented. Samples in different conditions (non-irradiated, at end of irradiation and at different temperatures during thermal ramp annealing) are examined by an oxygen ion primary beam with a spatial resolution of 1 micron along a diameter. The sample preparation is optimized in order to enable a quantitative comparison among the different conditions. Under an oxygen ion beam tritium is detected in the irradiated samples in a molecular form (3H2), with a continuous distribution inside the grains, which suggests the presence of small clusters in agreement with TEM analyses, and in the form of peaks at grain boundaries, corresponding to large grain boundary bubbles. The evolving of molecular tritium distribution measured by SIMS during a typical thermal ramp release experiment shows precisely tritium diffusion from the centre of the grain to grain boundaries as the temperature increases: at the same time the remaining intragranular tritium inventory, given by the integral of the distribution, decreases. No significant lowering of tritium concentration from the centre to the surface of the sample is detected: this suggests that tritium release is mainly driven by intragranular diffusion and not sensibly affected by the spherical geometry of the pebble. Thus one of the main assumptions at the basis of the current tritium release models is confirmed and new evidence for future model upgrading is provided. (author)