Description of need
Willms pointed out a need for monitoring and quantifying tritium “diversion” (e.g. accumulation of tritium on the first wall in a Nuclear fusion reactor).
This is primarily a nuclear proliferation risk: Disendorf et al. find that a mature fusion industry would facilitate construction of large, efficient, and reliable nuclear arsenals by producing tritium and the fissile materials Plutonium-239 and Uranium-233.
In particular, tritium is used to boost the explosive power of a fission explosion.
Problem severity (1-10)
Who has this need
Total addressable market (TAM)
Solutions today, and their shortcomings
Potentially relevant capabilities
References
- 2023-05-02 Fusion Technology Roadmap Workshop at EPRI
- Diesendorf, Mark, David Roser, and Haydn Washington. “Analyzing the Nuclear Weapons Proliferation Risk Posed by a Mature Fusion Technology and Economy.” Energies 16, no. 3 (January 2023): 1123. https://doi.org/10.3390/en16031123.