Fabrication of powders and sintered spheres of lithium ceramics as breeder materials in nuclear fusion

Sinterable powders of lithium orthosilicate and lithium metazirconate were fabricated by a wet–chemical process. Sperical granules of lithium containing powders were prepared by a special powder metallurgical process and sintering in a fluidized–bed. The characteristics of the obtained pebbles meet the given specification for a breeder material of the Karlsruhe pebble–bed canister design for the blanket of a forthcoming fusion reactor.