Development of materials and fabrication of porous and pebble bed beryllium multipliers

Beryllium is considered to be a neutron multiplier material for the reference ITER breeding blanket. The main requirements for the porous beryllium multiplier for the breeding blanket are: (1) inherently open porosity within 20 ± 2% for easy removal of radioactive gases; (2) high thermal conductivity; (3) close contact with a stainless steel (SS) shell to provide high heat transfer. A beryllium multiplier can be fabricated by two different techniques: by manufacturing porous or pebble bed beryllium. The method designed (patent 2106931 RU) in SSC RF-VNIINM (Russia) provides for the production of porous beryllium conforming to the requirements mentioned above. For comparative fission tests and the optimization of breeding zone functional capabilities, porous (21.9%) and binary pebble bed (density=78%) beryllium multipliers were fabricated. DEMO breeding blanket models and a mock-up of fission (IVV-2M reactor) tests have been manufactured at SSC RF-VNIINM.