Tritium is the best documented demonstration of the LENR process. Here is a histogram showing the number of measurements that related tritium to neutron production.

Number of experiments that related tritium to neutron production.
Number of experiments that related tritium to neutron production.

Many more measurements of tritium are available that did not attempt to measure the neutron flux. Tritium can be detected without any doubt and it can only result from a novel nuclear process having no conventional explanation.

The reason for its low production rate can be explained. As I have proposed, tritium results from fusion of d-e-p. An effective rate requires an equal amount of d and p in the NAE. Unfortunately, most studies when tritium is detected used pure D2O containing very little p. Consequently, finding very little tritium is to be expected. One study shows that the amount of tritium produced is sensitive to the d/p ratio, as this fusion process would predict.

Production of energy is also low when tritium forms because only 6 MeV/event is produced. Addition of H2O to D2O reduces the amount of power. The exact amount of reduction still needs further study.

Very few ways are available to produce tritium without neutrons being produced or being used. The fact that tritium is found without neutron involvement provides a window into the LENR process not available when only helium is considered.

Helium has provided an explanation for the energy but its presence gives limited information about the mechanism. Obviously, two D must fuse to produce He. We are required to speculate about how this process might take place.

To form tritium from d and p, the only possible reactants present when LENR occurs, an electron must be added to the d+p fusion process. This addition gives insight into how the fusion process might take place.

If we assume, LENR involves the same mechanism regardless of the isotopes of hydrogen present, we obtain the process I have proposed. This process predicts the source of energy using Ni-H2, the spectrum of isotopes produced by the two transmutation reactions, and where to look for additional confirmation.

2 thoughts on “On tritium production in LENR

  1. Brian, your statement is not correct. Tritium is at most perhaps 1000 times too small to account for the heat energy. The heat energy is known to result mostly from helium production. I have explained that tritium results from the d+e+p fusion reaction. Very little tritium is produced because the protium (p) is normally in very low concentration in the NAE. Tritium is not a side reaction. It results from the same process that produces helium, but requires a reactant having low concentration.

  2. The tritium production is 10-12 orders of magnitude below that commensurate with heating. Therefore, T production is likely a side reaction to some other process that produced very little ionizing radiation.

Leave a Reply to Edmund Storms Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.