Tritium has broad development prospects in the field of nuclear fusion and labeled compounds

There are three stable isotopes of hydrogen: protium, deuterium, and tritium. Tritium is one of them. The element symbol is T or 3H. There are 1 proton and 2 neutrons in the nucleus. It is also called superheavy hydrogen. In nature, protium is the main form of hydrogen, the abundance of deuterium is low, and the abundance of tritium is extremely low, only 0.004%. Tritium is radioactive and undergoes beta decay to produce helium-3, with a half-life of 12.43 years.

In nature, tritium is formed when high-energy neutrons from cosmic rays collide with deuterium nuclei. Since the content of tritium in nature is extremely small, the application of tritium requires artificial preparation. In the industrial field, the main method of preparing tritium is to bombard lithium with neutrons, that is, using neutrons from nuclear reactors and using lithium-6 compounds as targets to produce tritium. In the field of scientific research, American scientists are studying the use of deuterium-tritium controlled nuclear reactors. Tritium is produced through fusion reactions. Deuterium has large reserves in nature and exists in the form of heavy water in seawater. If this method can achieve large-scale production, deuterium can be directly extracted from seawater to produce tritium in the future.

In the 1930s, tritium was discovered in the British experiment of accelerating deuteron bombardment of deuterium targets. Due to its good nuclear physics properties, its application has attracted attention. According to the “Tritium (Super Heavy Hydrogen) Industry In-depth Market Research and Investment Strategy Suggestions Report 2021-2025” released by the Industrial Research Center , tritium and deuterium can undergo nuclear fusion reactions, releasing huge energy. Compared with nuclear fission, it is cleaner, safer, and easier to implement. Thermonuclear reaction is an important application field of tritium. Tritium and deuterium burn at a high temperature of 100 million degrees Celsius, causing a nuclear fusion reaction to produce a large amount of heat, forming an “artificial sun”; at the same time, tritium is also an important raw material for making hydrogen bombs.

Tritium beta decay only releases high-speed moving electrons, does not penetrate the human body, and has low toxicity. Therefore, in addition to nuclear fusion and hydrogen bombs, tritium can also be used as a tritium labeling compound (tritium tracer) and used to produce tritium luminescence. Devices (luminescent tritium tubes), etc. Tritium-labeled compounds can be widely used in military, industry, life sciences, geography and other fields. In life science research, tritium-labeled compounds can be used in many fields such as cellular/molecular research, human metabolism, immune analysis, drug development, cancer diagnosis and treatment, etc.; in geography, tritium-labeled compounds can be used in groundwater distribution, rivers and lakes Water tracking, glacier movement observation and other fields.

Industry analysts said that compared with deuterium, tritium cannot be obtained from nature and requires artificial preparation, which is difficult to produce. Specialized technology is required, so the number of countries in the world capable of producing tritium is small. In order to develop nuclear fusion energy and utilize tritium’s excellent labeling and tracing capabilities, many countries and regions, including China, the United States, and Europe, are increasing their efforts to improve tritium production capabilities and control capabilities in batch applications. , my country has made gratifying progress in this field, but there is still much room for improvement.