Terence Tarnowsky, a physicist at LANL, will present his findings this week at the American Chemical Society's (ACS) Fall 2025 meeting in Denver, which features about 9,000 presentations. His work focuses on converting radioactive waste from commercial fission reactors into valuable tritium using advanced accelerator-driven systems.
Unlike today's fission plants, which split uranium or plutonium atoms and generate long-lived radioactive waste, fusion power combines hydrogen isotopes such as deuterium and tritium to release energy, similar to the process that powers stars. While deuterium is abundant, tritium is rare and currently valued at $15 million per pound ($33 million per kilogram). The United States has no domestic capability to produce tritium, relying instead on limited supplies from Canada's fission reactors.
Tarnowsky notes that global reserves are estimated at just 55 pounds (25 kilograms), enough to power over 500,000 homes for half a year. Meanwhile, the United States possesses thousands of tons of nuclear waste, which must be stored securely to prevent leaks that could harm ecosystems and human health.
Through computer simulations, Tarnowsky modeled tritium-producing reactors that use particle accelerators to trigger controlled reactions in nuclear waste. These designs could generate tritium more safely than conventional chain reactions by allowing operators to switch the process on or off. The concept dates back to the 1990s, but modern advances in computing and materials may make the approach more efficient today.
Initial results suggest that a 1-gigawatt system, enough to power about 800,000 homes annually, could yield 4.4 pounds (2 kilograms) of tritium each year, matching Canada's entire current production. Tarnowsky projects his system would be over ten times more efficient than a fusion reactor at producing tritium at equivalent thermal power.
His next steps involve refining models to improve efficiency and safety estimates. Planned upgrades include simulating molten lithium salt as a coolant and containment system for nuclear waste, a configuration proven in uranium-fueled reactors but never applied in this context. The lithium salt not only enhances cooling but also reduces the risk of diversion for weapons use.
Ultimately, Tarnowsky aims to deliver cost estimates for large-scale tritium production and provide decision-makers with data-driven guidance on reactor designs best suited for deployment. He sees the effort as part of a broader push to make energy transitions less expensive. "Energy transitions are a costly business, and anytime you can make it easier, we should try," he says.
Research Report:On-ramping the fusion economy with kilogram quantities of commercial tritium
Related Links
Los Almos National Laboratory
Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com
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