Impurity effects in neutron-irradiated simple oxides: Implications for fusion devices

Radiation damage induced by neutron irradiation was studied in undoped MgO crystals and in MgO doped with either iron, hydrogen or lithium impurities. The oxygen-vacancy concentration produced by irradiation increases with neutron fluence. The net production rates resulting from irradiations with 14.8MeV neutrons are about twice those produced by fission neutrons.