Tritium distribution and chemical forms in the irradiated beryllium pebbles before and after thermoannealing

Abstract Beryllium pebbles are foreseen as a neutron multiplier in the tritium breeding blanket of the future fusion devices. Tritium inventory in the beryllium as a result of neutron-induced transmutations is a significant safety and technological issue for the operation of the breeding blanket. In this study, beryllium pebbles from 3 different irradiation experiments: BERYLLIUM, EXOTIC 8/3-13 and PBA, performed at High Flux Reactor HFR have been investigated. The distribution of tritium in the bulk of the pebbles and the abundance ratios of chemical forms of tritium T 0 , T + and T 2 have been analysed before and after the different thermo-annealing experiments. In order to determine the …