Projects & Programs
Lithium Aluminate Material Development
![Lithium Aluminate Pellets](https://rmtd.pnnl.gov/images/images/li_al_1.jpg)
Lithium Aluminate Pellets Used in Commercial Nuclear Reactors for the Production of Tritium
- worked with commercial vendors and universities to develop a powder synthesis method that produced flowable powder and enabled the automated processing necessary to produce production quantities of lithium aluminate pellets
- worked with manufacturers to develop the commercial powder and pellet manufacturing capabilities necessary to produce over 1,000,000 one-inch pellets
- worked with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) to develop production viable analytical chemistry methods to characterize the Li-6 loading in the final pellets. Successfully transferred these methods and qualified two separate laboratories for production measurements.
- helped establish the Materials Control and Accountability (MC&A) protocols necessary to manage the accountable quantities of Li-6 enriched lithium materials used in the manufacture of these pellets
- continue to develop unique lithium aluminate ceramics and lithium aluminate/zirconium cermet test specimens to use in Advanced Test Reactor (ATR) experiments designed to further the understanding of how pellets produce and release tritium during irradiation.
![Lithium Aluminate Production](https://rmtd.pnnl.gov/images/images/li_al_2.jpg)
Commercial lithium aluminate pellet production line used to produce 1,000,000 one-inch pellets
![Commercial Spray Drier](https://rmtd.pnnl.gov/images/images/li_al_3.jpg)
Commercial spray drier used to synthesize lithium aluminate powder for pellet production