Trial synthesis of LiBeO for high-functional tritium breeders

Hoshino, Tsuyoshi; Oikawa, Fumiaki; Natori, Yuri*; Kato, Kenichi*; Sakka, Tomoko*; Nakamura, Mutsumi*; Tatenuma, Katsuyoshi*

Fusion Engineering and Design, 88(9-10), p.2268 - 2271, 2013/10

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fusengdes.2013.05.013

Lithium titanate with additional Li (LiTiO) and lithium orthosilicate (LiSiO) is one of the most promising candidates for use in a tritium breeder because of its good chemical and mechanical stabilities. Currently, mixtures of tritium breeder pebble and neutron multiplier (Be or BeTi) pebble are being considered for use in increasing the tritium breeding ratio in a breeding blanket. However, lithium and beryllium are gradually reacted under practical operating conditions, and therefore a high-functional tritium breeder such as lithium beryllium oxide (LiBeO) needs to be developed to compensate for this reactive characteristic under high temperature use. In this study, methods of synthesizing LiBeO have been extensively investigated by means of solid-phase reaction. The solid-phase reaction of LiOH(HO) and BeO is a suitable synthesis method for lithium beryllium oxide (LiBeO). It is expected that single-phase LiBeO will be stable under the mixture conditions of a tritium breeder and neutron multiplier in the blanket region at high temperatures.