Nuclear Fusion

The two nuclear reactions now most commonly used for power production purposes are designated as DD and D-T reactions. The former stands for deuterium-deuterium and involves the combination of two deuterium nuclei to form a helium-3 nucleus and a free neutron. The second reaction stands for deuterium-tritium and involves the combination of a deuterium nucleus and a tritium nucleus to produce a helium-4 nucleus and a free neutron. The most common form of an inertial confinement machine, for example, uses a fuel that consists of equal parts of deuterium and tritium.