Fusion, of deuterium

It IS often stated that unclear fusion tvill produce no radioactive hazard, but this is not correct. The most likely fuels for a fusion reactor would be deuterium and radioactive tritium, which arc isotopes of hydrogen. Tritium is a gas, and in the event of a leak it could easily be released into the surrounding environment. The fusion of deuterium and tritium produces neutrons, which would also make the reactor building itself somewhat radioactive. However, the radioactivity produced in a fusion reactor would be much shorter-lived than that from a fission reactor. Although the thermonuclear weapons (that use nuclear fusion), first developed in the 1950s provided the impetus for tremendous worldwide research into nuclear fusion, the science and technology required to control a fusion reaction and develop a commercial fusion reactor are probably still decades away. 

One example of a fusion reaction is the fusion of deuterium and tritium. 

Temperatures in the range of 20 to 100 million degrees Celsius are required for fusion reactions. For this reason, a hydrogen bomb is triggered by a conventional fission atomic bomb. The atomic bomb produces the tremendous heat necessary to fuse hydrogen nuclei therefore, fusion bombs are often referred to as thermonuclear. The United States exploded the first hydrogen bomb on Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific Ocean on November 1, 1952. This bomb was based on the fusion of deuterium ... 

The fusion of deuterium produces another hydrogen isotope called tritium, H, along with common hydrogen, jH. The fusion of deuterium may also produce helium according to the reaction ... 

Not to be confused with the cold fusion of deuterium purportedly achieved by chemists in Utah in 1989 using nothing but heavy water in an electrolysis cell. This claim of cold nuclear fusion was later shown to be untenable (see page 188). 

Below —0.01 (strictly 0.013) solar masses, interior temperatures are insufficient even for the fusion of deuterium to occur. This has been... 

Our sun supplies energy to the earth from a distance of 93,000,000 miles. Like other stars, it is a giant nuclear fusion reactor. Much of its energy comes from the fusion of deuterium, H, producing helium, He. 

Lithium is one of the heaviest of nuclei produced during the first few minutes of big-bang nucleosynthesis, formed either by fusion of deuterium and tritium or by fusion of two alpha particles as follows ... 

Estimate if fusion of deuterium into helium releases more or less energy per gram of material consumed than the fission of uranium. 

Estimate the temperature needed to achieve the fusion of deuterium to make an a particle. The energy required can be... 

Some molecules look really peculiar. They may contain a muon instead of an electron. A muon is an unstable particle with the charge of an electron and mass equal to 207 electronic masses. For such a mass, assuming that nuclei are infinitely heavier than muon looks like a very bad approximation. Therefore, the calculations need to be non-adiabatic. The first eomputations for muonic molecules were performed by Kolos, Roothaan, and Sack in 1960. The idea behind the project was mnon-catalyzed fusion of deuterium (d) and tritium (t) the abbreviations here pertain to the nnclei only. This fascinating problem was proposed by Andrei Sakharov. Its essence is as follows. 

The nuclear fission of one uranium atom yields about 3.2 x 10" joule, whereas the combustion of one cartton atom yields about 6.4 X10" joule. Mass for mass, uranium yields about 2 500 000 times more energy by fission than carbon does by combustion. The nuclear fusion of deuterium to form helium releases about 400 times as much energy as the fission of uranium (on a mass basis). 

Hydrogen ions can diffuse into the interstitial wells between atoms in many metals to form solid solutions MH, or ordered metal hydride phases. Such materials are technically useful for the storage and purification of hydrogen, but absorbed H may also lead to unwanted brittleness in steel and other construction metals. The interesting material problems and the possible technical applications have led to large efforts over many years in studies of hydrogen absorbed in metals and its diffusion mechanisms. Lately, the promise of cheap energy from cold fusion of deuterium in metal hydrides has made most materials scientists aware of this field of research. 

Fleischmann, M., Pons, S. and Hawkins, M. (1989) Electrochemically induced nuclear fusion of deuterium. Journal of Electroanalytical Chemistry, 261, 261. 

The fission of U-235 produces 3.2 x 10 J/atom. How much energy does it produce per mole of U-235 Per kilogram of U-235 92. The fusion of deuterium and tritium produces 2.8 X 10 J for every atom of deuterium and atom of tritium. How much energy is produced per mole of deuterium and mole of tritium ... 

Theoretically, it is possible to obtain energy by the fusion of light atoms, e.g. deuterium with tritium. However, tritium has to be made from lithium, and this is also present in restricted amounts, sufficient to yield energy equivalent to about 60% of our fossil Sun reserves. The fusion of deuterium and deuterium would give virtually unlimited reserves of energy and if the physicists ever succeed in this, they have made a sun on earth, and the energy crisis will be over. 

In nuclear fusion, two very small atoms, usually isotopes of hydrogen, combine to make a larger atom. A common example is the fusion of deuterium ( H) and tritium (j H) to make helium, as shown ... 

Horanyi G (1989) Some doubts about the occurrence of electrochemically induced nuclear fusion of deuterium. Electrochim Acta 34(6) 889-890... 

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