Word: tritium
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Teller did not tell in detail how this could be done, but he gave a long chain of complex equations showing how energy is released in reacting gases (deuterium or tritium), and how energy escapes from the system. He gave a few general hints about how the lines of magnetic force affect and confine the moving ions. He did not sound lightly confident; repeatedly, he pointed to serious difficulties...
About five years ago came the "fusion" reaction. In this, an isotope of hydrogen (either deuterium, H2, or tritium, H3) was forced by extreme high temperature to "fuse" into helium with an enormous release of energy. The scientists got the required high temperature by exploding a conventional fission bomb as a detonator. With this development of fusion-which has never been officially described-the number of reactive nuclear ingredients rose to at least...
...same year, Teller went over his reasoning on this point with Emil Konopinski. They found loopholes. Later, after discussions with Oppenheimer and others, Konopinski suggested that tritium be considered instead of deuterium. "At that time it was a mere guess. It turned out to be an inspired one." These discussions were held at Berkeley, where Oppenheimer had gathered a group of distinguished theoretical physicists. Teller remembers the period wistfully. "The spirit of spontaneity, adventure and surprise of those weeks in Berkeley was never recaptured for me in the many years of hard work in which atomic bombs were developed...
...even be possible to get along with no tritium in the detonator. A highly efficient fusion bomb may raise the temperature high enough to ignite the lithium hydride. Or perhaps it may, by "implosion." cause the fusion of a core made of deuterium alone...
...fusion bomb can be made really "dry," with no tritium at all. a new era of nuclear energy has arrived. Every fission bomb in the world's stockpiles can then be upgraded into an H-bomb, with hundreds or thousands of times its original power. They will have to be reworked slightly and surrounded by a reasonable amount of lithium-six deuteride...