A retention and transport model for tritium in lithium and at fusion breeder interfaces

Future fusion power reactors such as the UK's STEP reactor, due to begin construction in the next 10 years, will require the tritium fuel to be generated (bred), extracted, separated, and regenerated into new fueling (either pellets or gas) prior to (re-)introduction into the fusion core. With the target of STEP to be generating net power output by the 2040's, it is no longer sufficient to only have qualitative or approximately quantitative understanding of the tritium fuel cycle; more detailed examinations and quantification are required.

In this project, computer modelling (molecular dynamics) will be used to investigate how tritium - one of the hydrogen isotopes used to fuel fusion reactors - diffuses and behaves within a liquid lithium environment. Particular focus will be on not only how the tritium diffuses, but also on how it is trapped at the interface between the liquid and the steel structural support. Investigations of this type will help understand how tritium can be recovered from liquid lithium-based fuel systems enabling a self sustaining fusion reaction to continue.