The FUBR-1B irradiation experiment: Tritium release and physical stability of solid breeder materials

Abstract The FUBR-1B irradiation experiment in EBR-II has provided important information on the irradiation behavior of candidate lithium solid breeder materials in a high neutron spectrum. The solid breeder materials include Li 2 O, LiAlO 2 , Li 1 ZrO 3 , Li 8 ZrO 6 and Li 4 SiO 4 pellets and LiAlO 2 spheres. The irradiation behavior of the materials was characterized for the temperature range from 400 to 900 ° C. The amount of tritium retained by the solid breeder materials, as well as swelling and physical stability, was determined for specimens removed after the first period of irradiation. LiAlO 2 , Li 2 ZrO 3 , and Li 8 ZrO 6 exhibited excellent dimensional stability during irradiation while the dimensional stability of Li 2 O was found be dependent on the microstructure. The amount of retained tritium is compared to similar closed capsule experiments and extends the data to burnups as high as 1.6 × 10 21 at/cc.