Some Preliminary Considerations of A Molten-Salt Extraction Process to Remove Tritium from Liquid Lithium Fusion Reactor Blankets

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Abstract
A method is described for removing tritium from liquid lithium fusion reactor blankets by extraction with molten salt. Results of distribution coefficient measurements made with lithium-lithium halide mixtures have demonstrated that tritium is preferentially distributed in the salt phase by a factor >1.0 on a volumetric basis. Other considerations related to (a) mutual solubilities between the salt and metal, (b) phase separation, (c) blanket neutronics, (d) corrosion, (e) fabrication, and (f) recovery of tritium from the salt phase indicate that the extraction process should be feasible. Calculations based on the blanket processing requirements for the reference theta-pinch reactor (RTPR) show that the equipment and power needed to carry out a molten-salt extraction operation on the lithium blanket of the RTPR are reasonable.

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