Liquid metal technology in fusion

Lithium (or Li-Pb) is one of the several possible coolants being considered for the blanket of magnetic toroidal fusion reactor, not only because of its good thermal and neutron properties, but also because the tritium required to fuel the reactor can be produced by neutron reactions in the lithium. In this paper two main technology tasks to be proposed in our fusion programme have been identified: 1) the development of impurity monitoring devices for use in lithium and Li-Pb environments; 2) effects of Li and Li-Pb environments on the low cycle fatigue properties of different steels. (author)