[3C01-04] Blanket and Molten Salt Materials

[3C03] Lithium vaporization behavior of Li₈ZrO₆ under typical use conditions for tritium breeders of thermonuclear fusion reactors

*Kiyoto Shin-mura¹, Shunsuke Honda¹, Tsuyoshi Hoshino², Kazuya Sasaki¹ (1. Hirosaki Univ., 2. QST)

Keywords:Li8ZrO6, tritium breeder, lithium vaporization, thermonuclear fusion reactor

For tritium breeders of thermonuclear fusion reactors, high lithium atom density and chemical stability at high temperature are required. Li₈ZrO₆ has high lithium atom density and great potential as a tritium breeder that maintains a large tritium breeding ratio. However, since Li₈ZrO₆ is concerned that the decrease of the lithium atom density and the decrease of the physical/chemical characteristics, because it has a high lithium vapor pressure at high temperature. In this study, Li₈ZrO₆ is kept at the typical temperature and atmosphere (320°C, 0.1% H₂/He) of tritium breeder for the thermonuclear fusion reactor, and we investigate the vaporization behavior of lithium species of Li₈ZrO₆ and thermochemical stability. As a result, the possibility that Li₈ZrO₆ is stable under the operating condition is shown based on the fact that the lithium vaporization rate is small and its crystal structure is stable.