Beyond Byproduct Rethinking Tritium in Fusion Technologies

By Taylor Loy

Published in Nuclear Future 21.6

DOI: https://www.nuclearinst.com/NF216-rethinking-tritium 

SUMMARY

•  Tritium is an essential component in most nuclear weapons and a significant material bottleneck for stockpile size and sophistication.
• The current “byproduct material” regulatory framework for fusion energy may not adequately address tritium’s role in vertical proliferation.
• The nuclear policy community should ensure that tritium and fusion energy regulations take an even-handed approach with respect to tritium’s dual-use applications. n Nuclear Weapon States should declassify additional information on their tritium enterprises to increase transparency and promote peaceful-use activities.

LEAD AUTHOR

Taylor Loy holds a postdoc position at Virginia Tech generously funded by a Carnegie Corporation of New York grant to research the civilian/military boundary in nuclear infrastructures. He brings a diverse academic/professional background to the study of civilian and military nuclear technologies. He received his PhD in Science, Technology, & Society (STS) at Virginia Tech, and his dissertation focuses on tritium, a unique and ephemeral radioactive isotope that readily transgresses established boundaries between civilian/military and natural/ technological domains.