Isotope exchange reaction on Li2ZrO3

Lithium meta-zirconate, Li2ZrO3, is considered as a strong candidate for the tritium breeding material in a D-T fusion reactor. The isotope exchange reaction rate between hydrogen isotopes in the purge gas and tritium on the surface of Li2ZrO3 has not been quantified yet, although helium gas with hydrogen or deuterium is planned to be used as the blanket purge gas in the recent blanket designs. The mass transfer coefficient representing the isotope exchange reaction between H-2 and D2O or that between D-2 and H2O in the Li2ZrO3 is experimentally obtained as K-F,K-exl = 1.60 x 10(2) exp(-121[kJ/mol]/RT) in this work. Discussions about the effect of temperature, concentration of hydrogen in the purge gas or flow rate of the purge gas on the conversion of tritiated water to tritium gas, HT instead of H-2, are also performed. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.