Tritium ordinary hydrogen, but they do fuse the small minority of deuterium nuclei. Like the other isotopes of hydrogen, tritium is difficult to confine. Rubber, plastic, and some kinds of steel are all somewhat permeable. This has raised concerns that if tritium were used in large quantities, in particular for fusion reactors, it may contribute to radioactive contamination, although its short half-life should prevent significant long-term accumulation in the atmosphere. The high levels of atmospheric nuclear weapons testing that took place prior to the enactment of the Partial Test Ban Treaty proved to be unexpectedly useful to oceanographers. The high levels
Hydrogen isotope biogeochemistry today's deuterium originated from this proton-proton fusion after sufficient cooling. Tritium, or hydrogen-3, with one proton and two neutrons, was produced by proton and neutron collisions in the early universe as well, but it has since radioactively decayed to helium-3. Modern tritium cannot be explained by big bang nucleosynthesis because of tritium's short half-life of 12.3 years. Today's tritium concentration is instead governed by nuclear reactions and cosmic rays. The radioactive beta decay of tritium to helium releases an electron and an antineutrino, with an average energy release of 18.6 MeV. It is important to note that this is classified