Swelling of lithium ceramics during irradiation

Lithium ceramics are being considered for the purpose of tritium production in D to T fusion power plants. One of the many issues which must be resolved before blankets containing lithium ceramics are brought into service is the degree of stability which can be expected from these new materials. Swelling of the solid breeder material can directly impact the design lifetime of the blanket. Accommodation of swelling in the design can correspondingly require compromises in the overall performance of the blanket. Recently, an irradiation experiment was completed at moderate burnup levels in which swelling of solid breeder materials was observed. As will be discussed, the swelling of the Li2O can be considerably more than that of the Li4SiO4. Li2ZrO3 and LiAlO2. In addition, a degree of pellet cracking and fragmentation was observed which varied between the materials