New evaluation of displacement damage and gas production for breeder ceramics under IFMIF, fusion and fission neutron irradiation

Design and development of accelerator driven neutron sources, in particular the International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility (IFMIF), demands neutron cross-sections with extended energy range up to 50 MeV, as standard data libraries are truncated at 20 MeV. Based on recently released new cross-section data for lithium isotopes, damage and gas production rates were re-evaluated for the lithium-based breeder ceramics Li4SiO4 and LiAlO2 under several neutron irradiation conditions. Calculated irradiation responses for mixed spectrum neutrons (HFR-Petten), fusion neutrons (DEMO reactor) and the accelerator-based d-Li neutron source IFMIF are presented. This study indicates, that IFMIF provides not only favorable irradiation conditions for structural materials but also can be a suitable test bed for fusion breeder materials. In the latter case an appropriate neutron moderator/reflector should be used to adjust the low energy tail of the IFMIF spectrum to that one of a typical DEMO reactor blanket.