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#1 Yesterday 13:10:36
- Void
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- Registered: 2011-12-29
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Tritium Production
https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview/r … 5e7b627ca4 Quote:
UK Scientists Achieve First Commercial Tritium Production
YouTube
Dr Ben Miles
104 views
So, the Brits come though again.
It says they produce Helium 4 as well, and I am under the impression that Tritium will eventually decay into Helium 3, which Helion Fusion could use.
All seeming to be good news.
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Last edited by Void (Yesterday 13:14:42)
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#2 Yesterday 14:30:06
- tahanson43206
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- Registered: 2018-04-27
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Re: Tritium Production
This post is reserved for an index to posts that may be contributed by NewMars members.
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#3 Yesterday 15:08:40
- tahanson43206
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Re: Tritium Production
Here is a bit more detail about the subject of the video that Void showed us in opening this topic in Life Support Systems.
Void's choice of Life Support Systems for this additional Tritium topic seems to show the way toward posts that emphasize the practical application of fusion instead of just the scientific or engineering aspects covered in other topics.
Per Google:
Search Labs | AI Overview
Yes, a UK firm, Astral Systems, in collaboration with the University of Bristol, has achieved the first commercial tritium production using a fusion reactor
.
Key details:Who: Astral Systems, a UK-based commercial fusion company.
What: Successfully bred tritium, a crucial fusion fuel.
How: Using their operational fusion reactor and a lithium breeder blanket.
When: During a 55-hour Deuterium-Deuterium (DD) fusion campaign in March.
Why it's significant: This addresses a major obstacle in developing fusion energy by demonstrating a viable way to produce a sustainable supply of tritium, which is currently limited in the world.This achievement represents a significant step towards unlocking fusion power as a viable energy source.
There is plenty of room for more detail if anyone in NewMars is fortunate enough to run across some.
Production of Tritium on a commercial scale should be worthy of significant investment now, let alone when fusion reactors come online.
As discussed elsewhere in the forum, Tritium is an excellent material to provide home heating, because the energy released is so gentle, and long lived.
The extreme difficulty of making Tritium is currently the limit on this otherwise attractive power source.
The fact that Tritium decays to helium means that whoever runs a Tritium power supply will have a valuable commodity to sell when the useful power has been collected.
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#4 Yesterday 20:23:38
- Void
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- Registered: 2011-12-29
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Re: Tritium Production
Perhaps we need to confirm or deny that Tritium decays to Helium-4 or Helium-3?
My reading of the description of Helion Fusion is that Tritium produced by d-d fusion would decay into Helium-3 if stored, for a number of years, a sort of half life decay. I am no expert. The reactor doing the d-d would become radioactive and have to be disposed of as nuclear waste over time.
However, doing this with a Helion Fusion Reactor would damage and contaminate the reactor over time. As I recall they want to do Helium-3-d which would be aneutronic I believe, so having very little radiation hazard.
Quote from post #1:
It says they produce Helium 4 as well, and I am under the impression that Tritium will eventually decay into Helium 3, which Helion Fusion could use.
Here is an only somewhat related article, apparently someone has natural Helium-3 in their Helium well: https://www.goldhydrogen.com.au/wp/wp-c … roject.pdf
Back to Helion Fusion: https://energytheory.com/helion-energy- … to-masses/
Quote:
From where is Helion going to get helium-3?
The company produces Helium-3 by fusing deuterium in its plasma accelerator by utilizing the patented high efficiency closed-fuel cycle. The extremely scarce Helium-3 isotope, which is arduous to locate on our planet, is key in quantum computing and crucial for important medical imaging purposes.
Earlier, scientists even thought of mining helium-3 from the Moon since it is available there in abundance. But with Helion’s technology space travel for this can be avoided.
I believe that they obtain the Helium-3 by letting tritium decay, but maybe I am wrong.
I made this query: "Where can Helion Fusion get Helium-3?"
General Response: https://www.bing.com/search?q=Where+can … pc=EDGEXST
Quote:
Helion Fusion can obtain Helium-3 by fusing Deuterium ions with Hydrogen ions in a Lithium or diamond crystal lattice3. Alternatively, it can produce 3 He by deuteron-deuteron side reactions to the deuterium-3He reactions2.
So, as I understand it the method by the Brits, in post #1, will create Helium-4, and Tritium which are both valuable.
And maybe I do not understand Hellions process as well as I think I do.
Any way the final result where Helium-3 and Deuterium fusion are implemented will result in Helium-4, power, and very little radiation, making it very useful on worlds and in spaceships.
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Last edited by Void (Yesterday 20:38:15)
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