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The separation of tritium from liquid lithium at low concentrations is an important problem for fusion technology. One of the most promising techniques for effecting this separation involves sorbing the tritium on solid yttrium metal. Reliable diffusivity data are essential for a realistic evaluation of this technique. This paper reviews the relevant experimental diffusivity data on protlum diffusion In liquid lithium, protium diffusion in solid yttrium, and the isotope

A particularly difficult problem for first generation fusion power reactor systems is the recovery of tritium at very low con centration levels from the reactor blanket when lithium metal is the principal tritium breeding medium. On the basis of recent data and reasonable extrapolations, we show that it is likely that yttrium metal can be used to extract tritium from lithium at concentrations as low as 10" atom fraction tritium in lithium under conditions that are practicable for commercial power machines.