Abstract. Ceramic materials will play very important roles in developing fusion reactors, where they will be used under heavy irradiation environments (neutrons, gamma-rays, protons, helium and other ions) for substantial periods for the first time. The programme at the Institute of Atomic Physics in Bucharest forms a part of the on going ceramics programmes to assess the suitability of SiO2 based materials for both diagnostic and remote handling application. The authors' proposal focuses on comparison of the ionization and displacement induced damage (influence on the UV and visible optical transmission properties) and on radiation enhanced hydrogen isotope diffusion in these materials; the work is performed in cooperation with CIEMAT Madrid and SCK/CEN Mol. The irradiation facilities are: IRASM - 200 kCi Co-60 source, minimum 2kGy/h, ethanol chlorine benzene and ESR dosimetry; HVEC 8 MV TANDEM - protons up to 16 MeV and 200 nA; and 600 kV DISKTRON - H isotopes up to 600 keV, tens of microamperes.
IAEA 2001