Breeding Ratio 1.1 — Near Self-Sufficiency

A breeding ratio of 1.1 keeps a single machine fueled with a modest margin, prioritizing engineering simplicity over rapid fuel accumulation.

What 1.1 provides

At a tritium breeding ratio of 1.1, the plant produces ten percent more tritium than it consumes. That margin covers recovery losses and sustains one machine's fuel supply, but it accumulates surplus slowly. It is the most conservative point in the breeder's design sweep and the least demanding on blanket engineering.

Trade-offs at the conservative end

The advantage of a low breeding ratio is that it is easier to achieve: less aggressive multiplication, simpler blanket geometry, and more tolerance for losses. The cost is that there is little spare tritium to start additional machines quickly, so fleet growth from internally bred fuel is slow at this point.

• Ten percent margin over consumption
• Covers recovery losses for one machine
• Least demanding on blanket design
• Slow accumulation of startup fuel for new plants

Honest gate

Even 1.1 net must be demonstrated in real blankets after recovery losses; local breeding can exceed net breeding. The breeder is a design and simulation study. See the 1.5 case and the 1.8 case.

The conservative anchor of the sweep

The 1.1 case anchors the conservative end of the design study, showing that self-sufficiency can be approached without aggressive neutron management. Its value is as a floor: if even this modest margin holds net of losses, the machine sustains itself. What it does not offer is rapid growth, because a ten-percent surplus builds startup fuel for new plants only slowly.