Tritium Decays To Helium-3
Tritium is radioactive with a 12.3-year half-life, and its only decay product is stable helium-3 — the physical basis for breeding the isotope.
A simple, useful decay
Tritium is the heaviest hydrogen isotope: one proton, two neutrons. It is unstable and undergoes beta decay with a half-life of about 12.3 years, emitting a low-energy electron and turning into helium-3. The helium-3 produced is stable and permanent. This one decay is what links the tritium a breeder makes to the helium-3 it supplies.
Why the low decay energy matters
The beta particle from tritium decay is very low in energy and travels only a short distance in air; it cannot penetrate skin from outside. This makes tritium comparatively benign to handle relative to many radioisotopes, though it is still managed carefully because it can be incorporated into water. The decay produces no gamma radiation.
- Half-life about 12.3 years — no long-lived legacy
- Sole decay product is stable helium-3
- Beta emission only, low energy, no gamma rays
- The decay is what lets stored tritium become a helium-3 source
From storage to supply
Because the decay is slow and predictable, tritium held in inventory steadily converts into recoverable helium-3. A breeder (Hyperion) with a tritium surplus therefore accumulates helium-3 over time as a natural consequence of physics. See helium-3 bred in situ and recovering the isotope.
One decay linking two isotopes
This single, well-understood decay is the hinge of the whole Kronos isotope story. It is what lets a machine that runs on tritium become a supplier of helium-3, and it is what guarantees that leftover tritium turns into something useful rather than lingering as a hazard. Few nuclear processes are as clean in their bookkeeping: one unstable atom in, one stable and valuable atom out.