Marathon Fusion’s modified fusion process could be used to produce gold from mercury

Source: ft.com

Marathon Fusion claims to have discovered a method of converting mercury into gold.

In an academic paper published last week, Marathon Fusion proposed a novel method for producing gold using neutrons generated in nuclear fusion reactions. The approach relies on a process known as nuclear transmutation, in which one element is transformed into another by altering its atomic structure.

Although the paper has not yet undergone peer review, it has received early praise from experts in the field. “On paper, it looks great, and everyone I’ve spoken to so far remains intrigued and excited,” said Dr. Ahmed Diallo, a plasma physicist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s national laboratory at Princeton, in an interview with the Financial Times.

Marathon’s concept involves introducing the mercury isotope mercury-198 into the fusion reactor’s breeding blanket, where it would be bombarded by high-energy neutrons, converting it into mercury-197.

Mercury-197 is an unstable isotope that undergoes beta decay over approximately 64 hours, transforming into gold-197—the only stable isotope of gold.

“Gold is in that sweet spot,” said Dan Brunner, former Chief Technology Officer at the Bill Gates–backed Commonwealth Fusion Systems and now a scientific adviser to Marathon. “From a purely scientific standpoint, the concept appears sound. The real challenge lies in engineering it into a practical and scalable system.” → Full article