Speaker
Description
Helium-3 (³He) is a critical fuel isotope for deuterium and ³He fusion, yet a persistent supply bottleneck constrains its logistics chain. Even if all remaining technical obstacles to fusion were resolved, the economic viability of burning ³He remains limited by insufficient supply. Current production methods rely primarily on the radioactive decay of tritium, a process requiring timescales of years that is incompatible with projected demand. Terrestrial helium wells represent a promising alternative, as naturally occurring ³He has been identified as a trace constituent within subsurface helium deposits; however, extracting usable ³He requires efficient isotopic separation from the bulk ⁴He present in these wells. This work presents a modeling study of diffusion kinematics within a ³He enrichment manifold system, in which isotopic enrichment occurs at one end of the manifold and the resulting enriched ³He gas subsequently diffuses to a measurement branch for characterization. Kinematic models of the diffusion transport are developed to describe the concentration evolution, flux dynamics, and transit behavior of enriched ³He within the manifold geometry. These models provide a quantitative framework for understanding and optimizing enrichment system performance, supporting the broader goal of establishing a viable terrestrial pathway for ³He production in service of future fusion energy applications.
