19th IAEA Fusion Energy Conference

Development of Advanced Blanket Materials for Solid Breeder Blanket of Fusion Reactor

H. Kawamura¹⁾, E. Ishitsuka¹⁾, K. Tsuchiya¹⁾, M. Nakamichi¹⁾, M. Uchida¹⁾, H. Yamada¹⁾, K. Nakamura²⁾, H. Ito¹⁾, T. Nakazawa³⁾, H. Takahashi⁴⁾, S. Tanaka⁵⁾, N. Yoshida⁶⁾, S. Kato⁷⁾, Y. Ito⁸⁾
1) Oarai Research Establishment, Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, 3607, Narita-cho, Oarai-machi, Higashiibaraki-gun, Ibaraki-ken, 311-1394 Japan
2) Naka Fusion Research Establishment, Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, 801-1, Naka-machi, Naka-gun, Ibaraki-ken, 311-0193 Japan
3) Tokai Research Establishment, Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute, 2-4, Tokai-mura, Naka-gun, Ibaraki-ken, 319-1195 Japan
4) Center for Advanced Research of Energy Technology, Hokkaido University, 13-8, Kita-ku, Sapporo-shi, Hokkaido, 060-8628 Japan
5) Department of Quantum Engineering and systems Science, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1, Hongou, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8656 Japan
6) Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University, 6-1, Kasugakoen, Kasuga-shi, Fukuoka-ken, 816-8580 Japan
7) Advanced Reactor Fuel Division, Nuclear Fuel Industries, Ltd., 3135-41, Tokai-mura, Naka-gun, Ibaraki-ken, 319-1196 Japan
8) Engineering Department, New Metal Division, NGK INSULATORS, LTD., 1, Maegata, Handa-shi, Aichi-ken, 475-0825 Japan

Abstract.
The design of advanced solid breeding blanket in the DEMO reactor requires the tritium breeder and neutron multiplier that can withstand the high temperature and high neutron fluence, and the development of such as advanced blanket materials has been carried out by the cooperation activities among JAERI, universities and industries in Japan. The Li₂TiO₃ pebble fabricated by wet process is a reference material as a tritium breeder, but the stability on high temperature has to be improved for application to DEMO blanket. As one of such the improved materials, TiO₂-doped Li₂TiO₃ pebbles were successfully fabricated and TiO₂-doped Li₂TiO₃ has been studied. For the advanced neutron multiplier, the beryllides that have high melting point and good chemical stability have been studied. Some characterization of Be₁₂Ti was conducted, and it became clear that Be₁₂Ti had lower swelling and tritium inventory than that of beryllium metal. The pebble fabrication study for Be₁₂Ti was also performed and Be₁₂Ti pebbles were successfully fabricated. From these activities, the bright prospect was obtained to realize the DEMO blanket by the application of TiO₂-doped Li₂TiO₃ and beryllides.