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The BN-350 fast-neutron reactor at Aktau, Kazakhstan.It operated between 1973 and 1994. A fast-neutron reactor (FNR) or fast-spectrum reactor or simply a fast reactor is a category of nuclear reactor in which the fission chain reaction is sustained by fast neutrons (carrying energies above 1 MeV, on average), as opposed to slow thermal neutrons used in thermal-neutron reactors.
A fast neutron reactor uses fast neutrons, so it does not use a moderator. Moderators may absorb a lot of neutrons in a thermal reactor, and fast fission produces a higher average number of neutrons per fission, so fast reactors have better neutron economy making a plutonium breeder reactor possible.
Neutron temperature. The neutron detection temperature, also called the neutron energy, indicates a free neutron 's kinetic energy, usually given in electron volts. The term temperature is used, since hot, thermal and cold neutrons are moderated in a medium with a certain temperature. The neutron energy distribution is then adapted to the ...
A thermal-neutron reactor is a nuclear reactor that uses slow or thermal neutrons. ("Thermal" does not mean hot in an absolute sense, but means in thermal equilibrium with the medium it is interacting with, the reactor's fuel, moderator and structure, which is much lower energy than the fast neutrons initially produced by fission.) Most nuclear ...
The Chernobyl sarcophagus, built to contain the effects of the 1986 disaster. A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a fission nuclear chain reaction. Nuclear reactors are used at nuclear power plants for electricity generation and in nuclear marine propulsion. When a fissile nucleus like uranium-235 or plutonium-239 absorbs ...
For thermal (slow-neutron) fission reactors, the typical prompt neutron lifetime is on the order of 10 −4 seconds, and for fast fission reactors, the prompt neutron lifetime is on the order of 10 −7 seconds. [16] These extremely short lifetimes mean that in 1 second, 10,000 to 10,000,000 neutron lifetimes can pass.
Nuclear reactor physics is the field of physics that studies and deals with the applied study and engineering applications of chain reaction to induce a controlled rate of fission in a nuclear reactor for the production of energy. [ 1 ] Most nuclear reactors use a chain reaction to induce a controlled rate of nuclear fission in fissile material ...
The primary physical advantage of thorium fuel is that it uniquely makes possible a breeder reactor that runs with slow neutrons, otherwise known as a thermal breeder reactor. [6] These reactors are often considered simpler than the more traditional fast-neutron breeders. Although the thermal neutron fission cross section (σ f) of the ...