Behaviour of neutron irradiated beryllium during temperature excursions up to and beyond its melting temperature

Beryllium pebble behaviour has been studied regarding the accidental operation conditions of tritium breeding blanket of fusion reactors. Structure evolution, oxidation and thermal properties have been compared for nonirradiated and neutron irradiated beryllium pebbles during thermal treatment in a temperature range from ambient temperature to 1600 K. For neutron irradiated pebbles tritium release process was studied. Methods of temperature programmed tritium desorption (TPD) in combination with thermogravimetry (TG) and temperature differential analysis (TDA), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in combination with Energy Dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) have been used. It was found that there are strong relation between tritium desorption spectra and structural evolution of neutron irradiated beryllium. The oxidation rate is also accelerated by the structure damages caused by neutrons.