Elemental Helium 3 is rare on the Earth but abundant on the moon. (Although Helium-3 is a byproduct of tritium decay, and tritium can be produced through neutron bombardment of lithium, boron, or nitrogen targets.)
More abundant helium-3 is thought to exist on the Moon (embedded in the upper layer of regolith by the solar wind over billions of years) and the solar system's gas giants (left over from the original solar nebula), although still in low quantities (28ppm of lunar regolith is helium-4 and 0.01 ppm is helium-3)
D + 3He → 4He (3.7 MeV) + p (14.7 MeV)
The appeal of helium-3 fusion stems from the nature of its reaction products. Helium-3 itself is non-radioactive. The lone high-energy proton produced can be contained using electric and magnetic fields, which results in direct electricity generation.
He-3 is made on the earth in the reaction D + D -> He-3 + n + 3.27 MeV.
2006-08-09
08:52:02
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