The DT fuel cycle is rather different to other nuclear fusion topics: it involves handling of a very precious and radiotoxic gas, i.e. tritium, together with deuterium, processing of gaseous, liquid and solid hydrogen isotopologues, treatment of deuterated and tritiated species, and removal and recovery of deuterium / tritium from water and other chemical species. Breeding of tritium from lithium is needed, supported by neutron multipliers.

Fusion devices for electricity production or with inventories and neutron productions beyond TFTR (US) or JET (UK) are likely to be subject to some kind of nuclear regulations, with corresponding consequences on safety, availability and redundancies, formal qualifications, and in any case with the requirement to process tritium and tritiated species at unprecedented inventories and throughputs. Nearly all systems of a fusion power plant – in one way or another – will have interfaces to tritium. Awareness of the need for implementation of such interfaces is key for safety.

This article reviews the current status of tritium technologies for nuclear fusion devices, the maturity levels of components for unit operations, identifies challenges and issues, and provides new insights through discussion of potentials for resolutions and recommendations future for R&D.