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Wasn’t the plan to use the neutrons generated by D-T fusion to generate more tritium because it is very rare on Earth? Didn’t they even not have enough neutrons to generate enough tritium for self sustaining fueling of fusion that the current plan is to use a beryllium blanket to multiply the neutron flux? Where would the extra neutrons for gold transmutation even come from? Waste from the tritium breeding?

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A7thStone@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
It looks that way.

Monte Carlo transport calculations show that neutrons produced in a tokamak power plant can convert the abundant isotope 198Hg to stable 197Au via the (n,2n) channel, yielding several tonnes of gold per plant-year without compromising the tritium breeding ratio.

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- gil2455526@lemmy.eco.br ⁨4⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Ah, so instead of beryllium using mercury as the neutron flux multiplier with the added benefit of turning it into gold. Neat.
  
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