Editing Boosted fission weapon (section)

==Maintenance of gas boosted nuclear weapons==
Tritium is a radioactive isotope with a half-life of 12.355 years. Its main decay product is [[helium-3]], which is among the nuclides with the largest cross-section for neutron capture. Therefore, periodically the weapon must have its helium waste flushed out and its tritium supply recharged. This is because any helium-3 in the weapon's tritium supply would act as a [[neutron poison|poison]] during the weapon's detonation, absorbing neutrons meant to collide with the nuclei of its fission fuel.<ref>{{cite web|title=Section 6.3.1.2 Nuclear Materials Tritium |url=http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Nwfaq/Nfaq6.html#nfaq6.4|website=High Energy Weapons Archive FAQ|publisher=Carey Sublette|access-date=June 7, 2016}}</ref>

Tritium is relatively expensive to produce because each [[triton (physics)|triton]] - the tritium nucleus - requires production of at least one free neutron, which is used to bombard a feedstock material (lithium-6, deuterium, or helium-3). Furthermore, because of losses and inefficiencies, the number of free neutrons needed is closer to two for each triton, as tritium begins decaying immediately, so there are losses during collection, storage, and transport from the production facility to the weapons in the field. The production of free neutrons demands the operation of either a breeder reactor or a particle accelerator (with a [[spallation]] target) dedicated to the tritium production facility.<ref>{{cite web|title=Section 6.3.1.2 Nuclear Materials Tritium|url=http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Nwfaq/Nfaq6.html#nfaq6.3|website=High Energy Weapons Archive FAQ|publisher=Carey Sublette|access-date=June 7, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Section 4.3.1 Fusion Boosted Fission Weapons|url=http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Nwfaq/Nfaq4-3.html|website=High Energy Weapons Archive FAQ|publisher=Carey Sublette|access-date=June 7, 2016}}</ref>