Why using deuterium and tritium as fusion fuel?
In a commercial fusion power station the fuel will consist of a 50-50 mixture of deuterium and tritium (D-T), since this mixture fuses at the lowest temperature and its energy yield is the largest compared with other fusion reactions. Deuterium can easily be extracted from seawater, where 1 in 6700 hydrogen atoms is deuterium. Tritium can be produced from lithium, which is widely distributed in the Earth’s crust. Thus, the primary fuels for D-T fusion reactors are so abundant in nature that, practically speaking, D-T fusion is an inexhaustible source of energy for global energy requirements. For comparison, if the deuterium in 50 cups of seawater were used in a D-T fusion reactor, the energy produced would be equal to that gained from the burning of 2 tonnes of coal. In addition, the primary fuels (deuterium, lithium) and the direct end product (helium) of fusion are neither toxic nor radioactive, and they do not produce atmospheric pollution nor do they contribute to the greenhouse ef
