September 10, 2025
| Lithium will be used in fusion reactors to breed tritium fuel. This lithium will be required in different chemical forms and with higher purity than is currently available. Reactor designers must account for the effect of real- world impurities in the lithium-containing materials. Neutron activation of the trace impurities will generate undesirable isotopes that increase the radioactivity of end-of-life components. Trace impurity compatibility with the reactor metals will also be a significant design consideration and trace impurities will also affect neutron flux.
Molten Salt Solutions’ goal is to produce this material and to do this, the purity specifications must be established. Molten Salt Solutions, the University of New Mexico and Los Alamos National Laboratory will develop the technical foundation for industry-wide purity specifications of fusion- grade lithium breeder material. Industry-wide, lithium breeding material purity standards will facilitate the design of fusion reactors. The ultimate outcome of the work with be an industry-consensus ISO specification for the lithium-containing material used in fusion reactors. |