Investigation of the solubility of LiOH in solid Li/sub 2/O

The solubility of LiOH in Li/sub 2/O was measured as a function of temperature and partial pressure of H/sub 2/O. For these measurements, solid Li/sub 2/O at temperatures of 973 to 1273 K was equilibrated with moisture in a helium carrier gas stream; monitoring the moisture content in the helium carrier gas allowed determination of LiOH solubility. The slope of the curve for the partial pressure of H/sub 2/O(g) versus LiOH solubility was observed to be 0.6 and is interpreted as an indication of nonideality in the system. For a given partial pressure of H/sub 2/O, the solubility of LiOH increased with increasing temperature. As a consequence of these measurements, the solubility of tritium (as LiOT) in a breeding blanket of solid Li/sub 2/O is expected to be low under anticipated fusion reactor environments (e.g., 0.56 wppm tritium at 1000 K for 1 Pa (10/sup -5/ atm) T/sub 2/O). 7 references, 2 tables.