Coated ceramic breeder materials

Abstract

A breeder material for use in a breeder blanket of a nuclear reactor is disclosed. The breeder material comprises a core material of lithium containing ceramic particles which has been coated with a neutron multiplier such as Be or BeO, which coating has a higher thermal conductivity than the core material.

The embodiments of this invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows: 
     
       1. A coated ceramic particle for use in the breeder blankets of nuclear fusion reactors, said particle comprising a core material of a lithium containing ceramic material, said core material having a certain thermal conductivity, said particle having a coating selected from the group consisting of Be and BeO. 
     
     
       2. The coated ceramic particles of claim 1 wherein said coating comprises a neutron multiplier means. 
     
     
       3. The coated ceramic particles of claim 1 wherein said coated particles are of a generally uniform spherical shape. 
     
     
       4. The coated ceramic particle of claim 1 wherein said core material is selected from the group consisting of Li 2  O, γ-LiAlO 2 , Li 4  SiO 4  and Li 8  ZrO 6 . 
     
     
       5. A coated ceramic breeder particle for use in the breeder blanket of a nuclear fusion reactor, said coated ceramic breeder particle comprising a spherical ceramic particle selected from the group consisting of Li 2  O, γ-LiAlO 2 , Li 4  SiO 4  and Li 8  ZrO 8  and having a coating comprising a neutron multiplier means, said coating selected from the group consisting of Be and BeO.