The D-T reaction is the 📝fusion of a 📝deuterium nucleus with a 📝tritium nucleus, producing a helium-4 nucleus and a neutron and releasing 17.6 million electron volts of energy.
Among all candidate fusion fuels, the deuterium-tritium pairing reacts fastest at the lowest temperature — its reaction rate peaks orders of magnitude above the deuterium-deuterium alternative at conditions a magnetic confinement device can actually reach — which is why every near-term fusion power plant design burns it. The energy splits unevenly between the two products: the neutron carries 14.1 MeV, about eighty percent of the total, while the helium nucleus (an alpha particle) carries 3.5 MeV.
That split defines the architecture of a D-T power plant. The alpha particle is electrically charged, so the magnetic field traps it in the 📝plasma, where it deposits its energy and keeps the fuel hot — the self-heating that makes a burning plasma possible. The neutron, electrically neutral, escapes the field entirely and is captured in a blanket surrounding the machine, where its energy becomes heat for electricity generation and its collisions with lithium breed the tritium the reaction consumes. Aneutronic alternatives like proton-boron avoid the neutron but demand far higher temperatures, leaving D-T the practical path to first-generation fusion power.