RE: Tritium in old nuclear weapons

[Richard_M_Pierson@RL.gov]

The fusion fuel is comprised primarily of lithium deuteride.  The fusion
fuel is trapped between a U-238 wrapper and a spark plug of U-235 or Pu-239.
As a bonus the lithium in the lithium deuteride is transmuted into tritium
which itself participates in the fusion reaction.  Basically a
Fission-Fusion-Fission device. 

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Perron Harvard C  PSNS [SMTP:perronh@psns.navy.mil]
> Sent:	Wednesday, February 23, 2000 6:36 AM
> To:	Multiple recipients of list
> Subject:	RE: Tritium in old nuclear weapons
> 
> I was under the impression that the tritium supplied the fuel for the
> fusion
> reaction which boosted the overall yield of the weapon and the fission
> reaction provided the conditions (heat and pressure) necessary to initiate
> the fusion reaction.
> 
> H. Perron 
> Health Physicist
> perronh@psns.navy.mil
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: rick.haynes@srs.gov [mailto:rick.haynes@srs.gov]
> Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2000 3:58 AM
> To: Multiple recipients of list
> Subject: Tritium in old nuclear weapons
> 
> 
> 
> Sorry about the last e-mail.  That was actually my first response to a
> radsafe e-mail.  I attached it to a summary, apparently that doesn't work.
> Anyway, someone asked about the tritium in old nuclear weapons.
> 
> Tritium gas has a "limited life" in the weapon due to its decay to He-3.
> Because of this, the tritium bottle in the weapon is changed out on a
> periodic basis.  The tritium bottle is removed from the weapon, replaced
> with a "fresh" bottle, and the old bottle is returned to the Savannah
> River
> Site (SRS) near Aiken, SC, where the tritium is recovered to be reused.
> When the weapon is retired, the tritium bottle is removed and returned to
> the SRS where the tritium/He-3 mixture is removed from the bottle, and the
> tritium is again recovered and reused.  The half-life of tritium is around
> 12-yrs.  The tritium is used "boost" the yield of the weapon by providing
> more neutrons which allows more fissions to take place in the primary
> system.
> 
> Rick
> 
> 
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