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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 reactor is therefore more efficient than a thermal reactor for using plutonium and higher actinides as fuel. These fast reactors are better suited for the transmutation of other actinides than thermal reactors. Because thermal reactors use slow or moderated neutrons, the actinides that are not fissionable with thermal neutrons tend to ...
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.
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.)
This is especially the case for companies studying fast neutron reactors of 4th generation (molten salts reactors, metal-cooled reactors (sodium-cooled fast reactor, or lead-cooled fast reactor). Fast breeder reactors "burn" 235 U (0.7% of natural uranium), but also convert fertile materials such as 238 U (99.3% of natural uranium) into fissile 239
The projected increase in uranium price did not materialize, but if uranium demand increases in the future, then there may be renewed interest in fast reactors. The GFR base design is a fast reactor, but in other ways similar to a high temperature gas-cooled reactor. It differs from the HTGR design in that the core has a higher fissile fuel ...
A fuel cell is an electrochemical energy conversion device. Fuel cells differ from batteries in that they are designed for continuous replenishment of the reactants consumed. This is a partial list of companies currently producing commercially available fuel cell systems for use in residential, commercial, or industrial settings.
It can utilize an estimated 97% of unused fuel that current reactors leave behind as waste. Spent fuel rods from conventional nuclear reactors are put into storage and considered to be nuclear waste, by the nuclear industry and the general public. [9] Nuclear waste from light water reactors retains more than 95% of its original energy because ...