Growing fusion's fuel supply while co-producing gold
Fusion power plants require tritium to start operations, but also generate tritium as a byproduct of plant operations. This unique property, using the reactor's own byproduct as fuel, is the key to fusion's promise of abundant energy.
To fuel other fusion power plants and scale deployment, plants will need to generate excess tritium using neutron multipliers: materials that generate extra neutrons instead of absorbing them.
Marathon's research has shown that mercury-198 can be used as a neutron multiplier to close the fuel cycle while generating thousands of kilograms of stable gold per year from the neutron-driven reaction.
A natural dividend to scale the next era of energy production
Gold production can approximately double the revenue generated by fusion power plants by adding a valuable co-product.
This is achieved without compromise to a plant's energy output, or tritium self-sufficiency.
Revenue per yearGW-scale plant
Electricity alone$223M/yr
Electricity + gold$482M/yr
In fusion reactors, deuterium and tritium fuse, releasing a high energy neutron
This neutron can be used to irradiate an abundant stable isotope of mercury called Hg-198, which then emits two neutrons, and briefly turns into a radioactive isotope before decaying into stable gold.
The neutrons emitted from that reaction are used to split lithium atoms, generating tritium and refueling the reactor.
Together, this series of reactions allows fusion power plants to sustain operations, grow tritium inventory to scale plant deployment, and generate billions in co-product value to enhance fusion's economic competitiveness.
