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Features of Helium and Tritium Release from Li(2)TiO(3) Ceramic Pebbles under Neutron Irradiation

The operation of fusion reactors is based on the reaction that occurs when two heavy hydrogen isotopes, deuterium and tritium, combine to form helium and a neutron with an energy of 14.1 MeV D + T → He + n. For this reaction to occur, it is necessary to produce tritium in the facility itself, as tri...

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Autores principales: Kulsartov, Timur, Zaurbekova, Zhanna, Chikhray, Yevgen, Kenzhina, Inesh, Askerbekov, Saulet, Shaimerdenov, Asset, Akhanov, Assyl, Aitkulov, Magzhan, Begentayev, Meiram
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10488921/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37687596
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ma16175903
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author Kulsartov, Timur
Zaurbekova, Zhanna
Chikhray, Yevgen
Kenzhina, Inesh
Askerbekov, Saulet
Shaimerdenov, Asset
Akhanov, Assyl
Aitkulov, Magzhan
Begentayev, Meiram
author_facet Kulsartov, Timur
Zaurbekova, Zhanna
Chikhray, Yevgen
Kenzhina, Inesh
Askerbekov, Saulet
Shaimerdenov, Asset
Akhanov, Assyl
Aitkulov, Magzhan
Begentayev, Meiram
author_sort Kulsartov, Timur
collection PubMed
description The operation of fusion reactors is based on the reaction that occurs when two heavy hydrogen isotopes, deuterium and tritium, combine to form helium and a neutron with an energy of 14.1 MeV D + T → He + n. For this reaction to occur, it is necessary to produce tritium in the facility itself, as tritium is not common in nature. The generation of tritium in the facility is a key function of the breeder blanket. During the operation of a D–T fusion reactor, high-energy tritium is generated as a result of the (6)Li(n,α)T reaction in a lithium-containing ceramic material in the breeder blanket. Lithium metatitanate Li(2)TiO(3) is proposed as one of the promising materials for use in the solid breeder blanket of the DEMO reactor. Several concepts for test blanket modules based on lithium ceramics are being developed for testing at the ITER reactor. Lithium metatitanate Li(2)TiO(3) has good tritium release parameters, as well as good thermal and thermomechanical characteristics. The most important property of lithium ceramics Li(2)TiO(3) is its ability to withstand exposure to long-term high-energy radiation at high temperatures and across large temperature gradients. Its inherent thermal stability and chemical inertness are significant advantages in terms of safety concerns. This study was a continuation of research regarding tritium and helium release from lithium metatitanate Li(2)TiO(3) with 96% (6)Li during irradiation at the WWR-K research reactor using the vacuum extraction method. As a result of the analysis of experiments regarding the irradiation of lithium metatitanate in vacuum conditions, it has been established that, during irradiation, peak releases of helium from closed pores of the ceramics are observed, which open during the first 7 days of irradiation. The authors assumed that the reasons samples crack are temperature gradients over the ceramic sample, resulting from the internal heating of pebbles under the conditions of their vacuum evacuation, and contact with the bottom of the evacuated capsule. The temperature dependence of the effective diffusion coefficient of tritium in ceramics at the end of irradiation and the parameters of helium effusion were also determined.
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spelling pubmed-104889212023-09-09 Features of Helium and Tritium Release from Li(2)TiO(3) Ceramic Pebbles under Neutron Irradiation Kulsartov, Timur Zaurbekova, Zhanna Chikhray, Yevgen Kenzhina, Inesh Askerbekov, Saulet Shaimerdenov, Asset Akhanov, Assyl Aitkulov, Magzhan Begentayev, Meiram Materials (Basel) Article The operation of fusion reactors is based on the reaction that occurs when two heavy hydrogen isotopes, deuterium and tritium, combine to form helium and a neutron with an energy of 14.1 MeV D + T → He + n. For this reaction to occur, it is necessary to produce tritium in the facility itself, as tritium is not common in nature. The generation of tritium in the facility is a key function of the breeder blanket. During the operation of a D–T fusion reactor, high-energy tritium is generated as a result of the (6)Li(n,α)T reaction in a lithium-containing ceramic material in the breeder blanket. Lithium metatitanate Li(2)TiO(3) is proposed as one of the promising materials for use in the solid breeder blanket of the DEMO reactor. Several concepts for test blanket modules based on lithium ceramics are being developed for testing at the ITER reactor. Lithium metatitanate Li(2)TiO(3) has good tritium release parameters, as well as good thermal and thermomechanical characteristics. The most important property of lithium ceramics Li(2)TiO(3) is its ability to withstand exposure to long-term high-energy radiation at high temperatures and across large temperature gradients. Its inherent thermal stability and chemical inertness are significant advantages in terms of safety concerns. This study was a continuation of research regarding tritium and helium release from lithium metatitanate Li(2)TiO(3) with 96% (6)Li during irradiation at the WWR-K research reactor using the vacuum extraction method. As a result of the analysis of experiments regarding the irradiation of lithium metatitanate in vacuum conditions, it has been established that, during irradiation, peak releases of helium from closed pores of the ceramics are observed, which open during the first 7 days of irradiation. The authors assumed that the reasons samples crack are temperature gradients over the ceramic sample, resulting from the internal heating of pebbles under the conditions of their vacuum evacuation, and contact with the bottom of the evacuated capsule. The temperature dependence of the effective diffusion coefficient of tritium in ceramics at the end of irradiation and the parameters of helium effusion were also determined. MDPI 2023-08-29 /pmc/articles/PMC10488921/ /pubmed/37687596 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ma16175903 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Kulsartov, Timur
Zaurbekova, Zhanna
Chikhray, Yevgen
Kenzhina, Inesh
Askerbekov, Saulet
Shaimerdenov, Asset
Akhanov, Assyl
Aitkulov, Magzhan
Begentayev, Meiram
Features of Helium and Tritium Release from Li(2)TiO(3) Ceramic Pebbles under Neutron Irradiation
title Features of Helium and Tritium Release from Li(2)TiO(3) Ceramic Pebbles under Neutron Irradiation
title_full Features of Helium and Tritium Release from Li(2)TiO(3) Ceramic Pebbles under Neutron Irradiation
title_fullStr Features of Helium and Tritium Release from Li(2)TiO(3) Ceramic Pebbles under Neutron Irradiation
title_full_unstemmed Features of Helium and Tritium Release from Li(2)TiO(3) Ceramic Pebbles under Neutron Irradiation
title_short Features of Helium and Tritium Release from Li(2)TiO(3) Ceramic Pebbles under Neutron Irradiation
title_sort features of helium and tritium release from li(2)tio(3) ceramic pebbles under neutron irradiation
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10488921/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37687596
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ma16175903
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