Reply To: YouTube Focus Fusion Video

[Alchemist32]

I just wanted to clarify a few points. Boric acid is not used in reactor water, this would create a major radiation problem from the production of approx 10^18 to 10^20 prompt gamma photons per second. It would also cause major problems regarding the conductivity of the water (causing corrosion). Instead, in some reactors, boric acid is added to the concrete surrounding the core. This boric acid is normal abundance boron since the 20% B-10 is more than sufficient for this purpose.

Unfortunately, the separation of B-10 and B-11 is not done on an industrial scale. It hypothetically could be, it just isn’t. The major use of isotopically enriched boron is in semiconductor doping, where B-11 is used to produce neutron-hardened ICs for the military. A secondary and much smaller use is for B-10 enriched boron compounds utilized in boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) (I am a professor in this area). B-11 enriched decaborane would be exorbitantly expensive, ~ $10,000 per gram, although, this cost could be brought down to about $5k per gram.