Fabrication of ceramic spheres for sphere-pac blankets

The Canadian breeder-blanket effort has been focused on design considerations and fabrication requirements in support of the sphere-pac concept. The engineering aspects of the sphere-pac design, including bed thermal conductivity, sphere packing, purge gas pressure drop and temperature gradients in the blanket and in the individual spheres, are addressed. This paper assesses these issues and derives a recommended range of sphere sizes. Progress in lithium-based ceramic powder and sphere fabrication and sphere-pac bed characterization is summarized