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Xenon-135 (135 Xe) is an unstable isotope of xenon with a half-life of about 9.2 hours. 135 Xe is a fission product of uranium and it is the most powerful known neutron-absorbing nuclear poison (2 million barns; [1] up to 3 million barns [1] under reactor conditions [2]), with a significant effect on nuclear reactor operation.
The iodine pit, also called the iodine hole or xenon pit, is a temporary disabling of a nuclear reactor due to buildup of short-lived nuclear poisons in the reactor core. The main isotope responsible is 135 Xe, mainly produced by natural decay of 135 I. 135 I is a weak neutron absorber, while 135 Xe is the strongest known neutron absorber.
The ratio of xenon-136 to xenon-135 (or its decay products) can give hints as to the power history of a given reactor and the absence of xenon-136 is a "fingerprint" for nuclear explosions, as xenon-135 is not produced directly but as a product of successive beta decays and thus it cannot absorb any neutrons in a nuclear explosion which occurs ...
Xenon-136 is an isotope of xenon that undergoes double beta decay to barium-136 with a very long half-life of 2.11 × 10 21 years, more than 10 orders of magnitude longer than the age of the universe ((13.799 ± 0.021) × 10 9 years). It is being used in the Enriched Xenon Observatory experiment to search for neutrinoless double beta decay.
Xenon-135 was also detected in gas samples collected on 2 November. These isotopes are the result of nuclear fission-reaction of uranium. Because the short half-lives of these gases: (Xe-133: 5 days Xe-135: 9 hours), the presence could only mean that nuclear fissions were occurring at some places in the reactor.
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The codes needed to launch a U.S. nuclear strike are supposed to be kept close to the president at all times. Bill Clinton once lost the nuclear codes for months, and a 'comedy of errors' kept ...
Xenon-135 in particular tremendously affects the operation of a nuclear reactor because it is the most powerful known neutron poison. The inability of a reactor to be restarted due to the buildup of xenon-135 (reaches a maximum after about 10 hours) is sometimes referred to as xenon precluded start-up .