Physical analysis reveals tritium decay rates limit indigenous helium-3 breeding for fusion fleets, indicating large-scale deuterium-helium-3 power requires lunar resources.
The helium-3 half of the breeder fuel cycle: helium-3 bred as a co-product of surplus-tritium decay at equilibrium, distinct from bulk fuel supply. The 12.3-year tritium half-life makes the breeder's decay-sourced helium-3 far too slow to fuel a burner fleet, so burner-scale helium-3 is lunar-gated; the breeder's helium-3 is a strategic co-product with national-security, cryogenic, and quantum value. Physics and logistics; no strategic value claims.
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Ford et al. (2026) studied this question.
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