4 ms·
I believe the tritium issue is addressed through the inclusion of lithium in the reactor's inner blanket [1]. Something about the neutron interaction with the l
by 0xbadc0de5 4y ago
I believe the tritium issue is addressed through the inclusion of lithium in the reactor's inner blanket [1]. Something about the neutron interaction with the lithium results in some non-trivial production of tritium which is then freed into the reactor. tl;dr - they've thought of that.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breeding_blanket https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breeding_blanket
- deelowe 4y agoMy understanding is that this is proposed, but has not yet been tested. In fact, one of the goals of ITER is to test various breeder blanket designs.
- 0xbadc0de5 4y agoIsn't this the case with nearly every aspect of "proposed" fusion reactors. Just because it's proposed or "not yet tested on a commercial fusion reactor" does not necessarily mean that the mechanism is not well understood.
- deelowe 4y agoI think if it were so well understood, ITER wouldn't be testing over 100 different breeder blanket designs. I've seen breeder blanket design described as one of the biggest challenges with fusion today.
- 0xbadc0de5 4y agoI would expect that it is more a matter of selecting the best/optimized design rather than demonstrating the fundamental viability of tritium breeding.