Researchers from the University of Missouri, including Andrew K. Gillespie, Cuikun Lin, Ian Jones, Brad Jeffries, Joseph Caleb Philipps, Sandeep Puri, John Gahl, John Brockman, and R. V. Duncan, have published a study in the Journal of Nuclear Materials that explores new mechanisms for tritium production in titanium deuteride (TiD2) through fusion reactions. Their work builds on previous research by Steinetz et al. at the NASA Glenn Research Center, which suggested that electron screening could enhance deuterium-deuterium fusion reactions in metals.
The team conducted experiments and simulations to investigate tritium production in TiD2 under different neutron irradiation conditions. They found that tritium production in a thermal neutron environment, such as the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR), was consistent with known nuclear reactions and within 25 percent of predicted amounts from simulations. However, in an energetic neutron environment, like the cyclotron vault at MURR, tritium production was significantly higher—2.9 to 5.1 times more than predicted by simulations using known nuclear reactions.
This discrepancy suggests the presence of an additional mechanism, such as collision-induced fusion in the solid state, which could enhance tritium production. The findings lend credibility to the earlier results from Steinetz et al., indicating that lattice dynamics and electron screening could influence nuclear processes in metals. This research could have practical applications in the energy sector, particularly in the development of advanced nuclear power cycles and fusion energy technologies. By understanding and harnessing these mechanisms, the energy industry could potentially improve the efficiency and viability of nuclear fusion as a clean and abundant energy source.
The study was published in the Journal of Nuclear Materials, providing a foundation for further exploration of these mechanisms and their potential impact on the future of nuclear energy.
This article is based on research available at arXiv.