In-pile tritium release behavior from lithium aluminate and lithium orthosilicate of the VOM-23 experiment

Abstract

Lithium aluminate from CEN/Saclay and lithium orthosilicate from KfK/Karlsruhe were irradiated in separate capsules in the VOM-23 experiment as a part of the IEA breeder exchange matrix (BEATRIX). The behavior of tritium release from lithium orthosilicate was observed to be similar to that of lithium aluminate in spite of differences in grain size, density and specific surface area. The tritium release kinetics was strongly influenced by the content of hydrogen isotopes in the purge gas. Tritium release was enhanced in purge gases with higher hydrogen contents which is indicative of a significant contribution from the surface adsorption-desorption process. The tritium release behavior in both materials appeared to be governed by both diffusion and surface adsorption-desorption mechanisms. A model including both mechanisms was developed to analyze the data from this experiment. © 1988.