Electrolysis deuterium separated from hydrogen

The rewards of a workable nuclear fusion process would be great. Fusion produces neither the long-lived radioactive nuclides that accompany nuclear fission (although tritium requires care in handling) nor the environmental pollutants released by the burning of fossil fuels. Although deuterium is present in only 1/6000 of the abundance of ordinary hydrogen, its separation from the latter by the electrolysis of water is readily accomplished, and the oceans contain a virtually unlimited quantity of deuterium. 

When considered with regard to the amount of water available on earth it is sufficient to provide energy for many thousands of years. Moreover, deuterium can be separated from the water by electrolysis. Electrolysis is a simple, efficient process. The other fuel, tritium, is a slightly radioactive, electron emitting, isotope of hydrogen with a 12.5 year half-life. Tritium is produced from lithium by reaction with neutrons. 

Since 1952, most of the tritium measured in the atmosphere originates from thermonuclear explosions. Like hydrogen, deuterium and tritium also exhibit molecular isomerism. Because of the important differences between the relative atomic masses of the three isotopes, their physical properties (e.g., density, enthalpy of vaporization) differ greatly. This allows an easier isotopic separation than for any other element. Several separation processes are used for the enrichment and separation of hydrogen isotopes. Most of these processes use isotopic exchange reactions (e.g., H D-H O or NH3-HD) and to a lesser extent fractional distillation and water electrolysis (e.g., Norway, Canada). 

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