Irradiation effects in ceramic breeder materials

For understanding of the irradiation effects in solid breeder materials, ex tensive studies have been performed with lithium-containing ceramics such a s Li2O, LiAlO2, Li4SiO4 and Li2ZrO3. In parallel with the studies of ordina ry irradiation performance testing, a number of the studies have been perfo rmed focussed on the fundamental aspects of irradiation-induced defects and their effects in lithium ceramics. In the present paper, the fundamental s tudies are reviewed and discussed to improve our knowledge on the irradiati on effects in lithium ceramics, Their production behaviors, reaction kineti cs, and effects on the tritium release performance and microstructural chan ges of lithium ceramics are described. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Scien ce B.V. All rights reserved.