How to fuel future fusion machines

Tritium and deuterium are two isotopes of hydrogen that will be used to fuel the fusion reaction in ITER. While deuterium can be extracted from seawater in virtually boundless quantities, the supply of tritium in the Earth's crust is limited, estimated currently at twenty kilos. A second source of tritium fortunately exists: tritium can be produced within the Tokamak when neutrons escaping the plasma interact with a specific element—lithium—contained in the blanket. This concept of "breeding" tritium during the fusion reaction is an important one for the future needs of a large-scale fusion power plant. Watch this short video clip to learn more about the tritium breeding concepts that will be tested in ITER.