Investigation of hydrogen and deuterium impact on the release of tritium from two-phase lithium ceramics under reactor irradiation

•The T release was investigated in the presence of H2 and D2 gases in the chamber.•The kinetics of the T release from ceramic were obtained for various conditions.•The rate of D2 interaction with T on the ceramic surface is higher than that of H2. In the development of fusion energy, an important task is the study and improvement of tritium production technologies. In this case, one of the most promising materials for tritium generation is lithium ceramics. Considering the importance of the task, numerous studies are aimed at solving the problem of determining the parameters and mechanisms of tritium release in lithium-containing materials. This paper presents the results of a study of tritium release processes from two-phase lithium ceramics of Li4SiO4/Li2TiO3 during reactor irradiation when hydrogen and deuterium are injected into the chamber with irradiated samples. The mechanisms regularities of the tritium yield process in the presence of these isotopes were established. The experiments were carried out in the WWR-K research reactor at a neutron flux density of 5∙1013n/cm2∙s and sample temperatures from 650 to 700 °C.