Trial fabrication tests of advanced tritium breeder pebbles using sol-gel method

Hoshino, Tsuyoshi; Oikawa, Fumiaki

Lithium titanate (LiTiO) is one of the most promising candidates among tritium breeding materials because of its good tritium release characteristics. However, the mass of LiTiO decreased with time in a hydrogen atmosphere by Li evaporation and with Li burn up. In order to prevent the mass decrease at high temperatures, LiTiO with added Li have been developed as one of advanced tritium breeders. We have been promoting the development of fabrication technique of LiTiO pebbles by the sol-gel method. The fabrication techniques of advanced tritium breeder pebbles have not been established for large quantities. Therefore, trial fabrication tests of advanced breeder pebbles were carried out using previous sol-gel method. The diameter of the pebbles is 1.18 mm, and the sphericity is 1.04. It is expected that an advanced tritium breeder with added Li will be stable under operating conditions, namely in a neutron environment at a high temperatures. Thus, these results show that the pebble fabrication using the sol-gel method is a promising production technique for mass production of the advanced tritium breeder pebbles.