How do you turn nuclear waste into a $30,000-per-gram commodity? Tritium, once discarded as a by-product of Canadian nuclear reactors, is now one of the most expensive materials on Earth. This rare isotope of hydrogen powers glow-in-the-dark keychains, exit signs that can stay bright for two decades without power and cutting-edge fusion energy research.
Join our host, George, as he explores how tritium is produced and used, and why its use as a fusion fuel is completely different from its use in exit signs. As demand for clean, limitless power grows, companies are racing to secure their piece of the tritium pie, making this once-discarded nuclear waste a hot commodity.
Sources:
- The Essential CANDU
- Radionuclide Basics: Tritium | US EPA
- U.S. to Put a Civilian Reactor to Military Use - The New York Times
- Commentary: The looming crisis for US tritium production
- UK and Canada partner to advance tritium management - Power Engineering International
- AVAILABLITY & SUPPLY OF KEY RESOURCES & TECHNOLOGIES FOR THE REALISATION OF A FUSION PILOT PLANT
- How a Nuclear Reactor Works | Canadian Nuclear Association
- Fusion power may run out of fuel before it even gets started | Science | AAAS
- Tritium in Exit Signs | US EPA
- A New Full 3‐D Model of Cosmogenic Tritium 3H Production in the Atmosphere (CRAC:3H) - Poluianov - 2020 - Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres - Wiley Online Library
- U.S. Civilian Reactor Produces Tritium | Arms Control Association
- Deuterium oxide, for NMR, 99.8 atom % D, Thermo Scientific Chemicals, Quantity: 10 mL | Fisher Scientific
- Tritium Self Luminous Exit Signs | SL-Tritium | Exit Light Co.
- Fact Sheet: Tritium Production.
- Physics of Uranium and Nuclear Energy - World Nuclear Association
- How a Nuclear Reactor Works | Canadian Nuclear Association
- Advanced Fusion Reactors for Space Propulsion and Power Systems
- Fusion Conditions - EUROfusion
- FIA–2023-FINAL.pdf
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