Neutron activation, gamma spectrometry and tritium measurements on Italian lithium aluminate and zirconate, as selection means of candidate breeders for fusion reactors

This paper discusses measurements of impurities and tritium releasing characteristics of Lithium Aluminate and zirconate, prepared by ENEA in the frame of the European Program on Fusion Technology, performed, respectively, by neutron activation analysis (NAA) and out of pile annealing. The resulting tritium removing rate from the ceramics was interpreted in terms of surface desorption kinetics. With reference purge gas (He + 0.1% H2), the predominant form of tritium, released by lithium aluminate is HT/T2, HTO/T2O by lithium zirconate. The latter was found to have a better performance in tritium release than aluminate. The presence of moisture was found to catalyze the tritium release at lower temperatures