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The mere fact that an assembly is supercritical does not guarantee that it contains any free neutrons at all. At least one neutron is required to "strike" a chain reaction, and if the spontaneous fission rate is sufficiently low it may take a long time (in 235 U reactors, as long as many minutes) before a chance neutron encounter starts a chain reaction even if the reactor is supercritical.
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.
Clementine was the code name for the world's first continuous [note 1] fast-neutron reactor, also known as the Los Alamos fast plutonium reactor. It was an experimental-scale reactor. The maximum output was 25 kW and was fueled by plutonium and cooled by liquid mercury. Clementine was located at Los Alamos National Laboratory in Los Alamos, New ...
The integral fast reactor (IFR), originally the advanced liquid-metal reactor (ALMR), is a design for a nuclear reactor using fast neutrons and no neutron moderator (a "fast" reactor). IFRs can breed more fuel and are distinguished by a nuclear fuel cycle that uses reprocessing via electrorefining at the reactor site.
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 ...
Pool type sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) A sodium-cooled fast reactor is a fast neutron reactor cooled by liquid sodium.. The initials SFR in particular refer to two Generation IV reactor proposals, one based on existing liquid metal cooled reactor (LMFR) technology using mixed oxide fuel (MOX), and one based on the metal-fueled integral fast reactor.
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.
When nuclear fission occurs inside of a nuclear reactor, neutrons are produced. [1] These neutrons then, to state it simply, either react with the fuel in the reactor or escape from the reactor. [1] These two processes are referred to as neutron absorption and neutron leakage, and their sum is the neutron loss. [1]