Scientists in the US have come up with a new molten-salt accelerator system that can potentially change the future of fusion energy by producing commercial tritium from nuclear waste.
Led by Terence Tarnowsky, PhD, a Los Alamos National Laboratory physicist and leader of the tritium production project, the research aimed to tackle the growing tritium shortage and repurpose radioactive waste.
Tritium is a radioactive isotope of hydrogen naturally produced in the upper atmosphere. Commonly referred to as heavy hydrogen, it plays a great role in developing nuclear fusion as a clean and sustainable energy source.
However, even though nuclear fusion holds promise for providing abundant, emission-free energy, Tarnowsky highlights that there is still no commercial tritium production in the US.
“Despite the value tritium holds for the nation’s energy interests, tritium for commercial purposes is simply not produced domestically,” he explained.
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