Extraction and Processing
Bred tritium must be recovered from the blanket, separated from hydrogen isotopes, purified, and accounted for before it becomes a usable product.
From blanket to bottle
Tritium bred in a lithium blanket does not arrive ready to use. It must be recovered from the breeding medium, separated from ordinary hydrogen and deuterium, purified to specification, and measured for accountancy. Each step is a place where inventory can be lost, so the processing train is engineered to minimize hold-up and leakage.
Isotope separation
Hydrogen, deuterium, and tritium are chemically nearly identical, so separation relies on small physical differences — for example in molecular mass and vapor pressure. Cryogenic distillation and related methods enrich the tritium fraction. The same separation capability that purifies product also lets a fusion fuel cycle recycle unburned fuel.
Losses and hold-up
- Hold-up: tritium retained in materials and equipment reduces usable yield.
- Permeation: tritium diffuses through hot metals, requiring barriers.
- Decay-in-process: material decays during every processing step.
Because tritium permeates metals and decays continuously, processing is designed for speed and containment together. Shorter residence times mean less decay loss and less permeation; robust barriers keep what is recovered inside the system.
Speed and containment together
The two design goals of a processing train — minimizing loss and preventing release — point in the same direction: keep residence times short and hold-up low. Tritium retained in materials both reduces usable yield and increases the inventory at risk, while every hour in process is an hour of decay and permeation. Continuous accountancy through the train lets operators detect where inventory is accumulating and reconcile it against the decay curve. These are established capabilities in tritium science; the breeder specifies them as engineering requirements to be demonstrated during commissioning.
In the breeder program these steps are specified as engineering targets; measured recovery fractions and purities are FOAK-era deliverables, not present-day results.