Editing Tritium (section)

==== Tritium in hydrogen bomb secondaries ====
{{see also|Nuclear weapon design}}
Since tritium undergoes radioactive decay, and is also difficult to confine physically, the much larger secondary charge of heavy hydrogen isotopes needed in a true [[hydrogen bomb]] uses solid [[Lithium hydride#Lithium deuteride|lithium deuteride]] as its source of deuterium and tritium, producing the tritium ''in situ'' during secondary ignition.

During the detonation of the primary [[fission bomb]] stage in a thermonuclear weapon ([[History of the Teller–Ulam design|Teller–Ulam staging]]), the [[Thermonuclear weapon|sparkplug]], a cylinder of {{sup|235}}U/{{sup|239}}Pu at the center of the fusion stage(s), begins to fission in a chain reaction, from excess neutrons channeled from the primary.  The neutrons released from the fission of the sparkplug split [[lithium-6]] into tritium and helium-4, while lithium-7 is split into helium-4, tritium, and one neutron. As these reactions occur, the fusion stage is compressed by photons from the primary and fission of the {{sup|238}}U or {{sup|238}}U/{{sup|235}}U jacket surrounding the fusion stage. Therefore, the fusion stage breeds its own tritium as the device detonates. In the extreme heat and pressure of the explosion, some of the tritium is then forced into fusion with deuterium, and that reaction releases even more neutrons.

Since this fusion process requires an extremely high temperature for ignition, and it produces fewer and less energetic neutrons (only fission, deuterium-tritium fusion, and {{nuclide|lithium|7}} splitting are net neutron producers), [[lithium deuteride]] is not used in boosted bombs, but rather for multi-stage hydrogen bombs.