July 25, 2023
Tritium breeding, confinement and extraction technologies are required to ensure the technical viability of deuterium-tritium based fusion energy. They also have important implications for radiological source terms, worker safety, public safety, and public acceptance of fusion energy. CFS will employ FLiBe (i.e. molten Li2BeF4) as the liquid breeding material for ARC. Concentration and diffusivity of tritium in FLiBe are the two dominant properties that govern the tritium transport characteristics within the blanket and associated systems, and transport properties flow down to design and performance of tritium systems. However, tritium concentration and diffusivity depend on electrochemistry, and impurities from salt manufacturing, environmental contamination, and corrosion products. These dependencies are not well understood.
Currently, published data describing diffusivity and concentration of the two dominant tritium species expected to exist within a FLiBe blanket (3H2 & 3HF) is limited and inconsistent. This proposal will produce an electrochemical test method to determine solubility and diffusivity of hydrogenic species in FLiBe.