Lithium fission is being explored for subcritical reactors. The fission of lithium ions by bombarding them with neutrons results in excess energy, tritium atoms, and helium atoms.
It would be an amazing thing if widespread energy generation via subcritical fission of lithium also helped solve the “finite helium” problem.
Imagine a world where old lithium batteries can be recycled and create H^3 and He^4 and also generate clean energy.
What you’re describing requires a strong neutron source, like a D-T fusion reactor or a conventional fission reactor. That’s essentially the thought as to how to make the blanket for a fusion reactor and how you’d extract energy from the neutrons while replenishing your tritium. You need the rarer isotope of lithium for that, lithium-6. Be just as useful to recycle your lithium batteries back into lithium batteries, since they don’t have a particularly high concentration of lithium-6.
Lithium fission is being explored for subcritical reactors. The fission of lithium ions by bombarding them with neutrons results in excess energy, tritium atoms, and helium atoms.
It would be an amazing thing if widespread energy generation via subcritical fission of lithium also helped solve the “finite helium” problem.
Imagine a world where old lithium batteries can be recycled and create H^3 and He^4 and also generate clean energy.
What you’re describing requires a strong neutron source, like a D-T fusion reactor or a conventional fission reactor. That’s essentially the thought as to how to make the blanket for a fusion reactor and how you’d extract energy from the neutrons while replenishing your tritium. You need the rarer isotope of lithium for that, lithium-6. Be just as useful to recycle your lithium batteries back into lithium batteries, since they don’t have a particularly high concentration of lithium-6.
I defer to your expertise as I only read an article about Lithium fission and know my knowledge is limited.