TRITIUM INVENTORY IN LI2O BREEDER MATERIAL FOR THE SEAFP HELIUM COOLED CERAMIC BLANKET

The analysis of the tritium inventory in Li2O, carried out for the Saf ety and Environmental Assessment of Fusion Power (SEAFP) helium-cooled ceramic blanket, is based on a diffusion and desorption tritium relea se model. Within the specific range of breeder temperatures taken into account, desorption was the dominant mechanism so it can be defined a s the rate controlling step. At steady state, the model for the tritiu m inventory in the solid Li2O breeder is supported by a computer code for several operating conditions. At reference conditions of breeder t emperatures, by varying the mean grain radius from 1 to 5 mu m, a trit ium inventory from 0.5 to 2.8 g can be obtained. A helium purge gas ve locity from 0.1 to 0.4 m/s gives rise to gas pressure losses from 0.22 to 0.9 MPa, which could probably be reduced by increasing the pebble diameter to 1 mm. This breeder configuration seems to ensure reactor s afety.