In case you are wondering what the hell Helium-3 is and how it works in a nuclear reaction:
You're familiar with helium gas as the stuff we use to blow up blimps and balloons. Normal helium has 2 protons and 2 neutrons in its nucleus, giving
it an atomic weight of 4.
Now, if you kick out one of neutrons, you get helium-3. This happens once in a while in very energetic nuclear reactors, especially the sun. The sun
produces helium by fusing hydrogen atoms together, but about one in every ten thousand helium atoms comes out missing a neutron.
He3 casts lustful eyes upon that neutron in the deuterium, and will grab it if it gets a chance. We give it a chance by introducing the He3 to the
deuterium at a high temperature.
The deuterium and helium-3 atoms come together to give off a proton and helium-4. The products weigh less than the initial components; the missing
mass is converted to energy. 1 kg of helium-3 burned with 0.67 kg of deuterium gives us about 19 megawatt-years of energy output.
So Deuterium has 1 proton and 1 neutron. The He3 wants the 1 neutron from Deuterium.
