The physics of tritium breeding blankets in D–T fusion reactors
First Light Fusion validates a 1.8 tritium breeding ratio with FLARE, well above the self-sufficiency threshold for D–T plants.
For fusion power plants utilizing the Deuterium-Tritium (D-T) reaction, achieving a Tritium Breeding Ratio (TBR) strictly greater than 1.0 is an existential engineering requirement due to the natural scarcity and 12.3-year half-life of tritium. Reactors must dynamically breed their own fuel by bombarding lithium-bearing blankets with 14.1 MeV fusion neutrons.
First Light Fusion has validated an exceptional TBR of 1.8 using its shock-driven inertial confinement concept (FLARE). The figure was confirmed through coupled neutronics modeling benchmarked against integral activation experiments at the company's Yarnton facility.
This high margin indicates that advanced blanket designs could not only achieve internal tritium self-sufficiency but potentially supply excess fuel to mitigate supply chain bottlenecks across the broader D-T fusion ecosystem — a problem that has dominated fuel-cycle workshops at the IAEA over the last 18 months.
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