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Fission Reactor Physics

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Abbreviations

Fissile :

Fissile isotopes are fissionable by the capture of neutrons of any energy, but are especially easily fissioned by the capture of slow neutrons, for example, U233, U235, Pu239, and Pu241.

Fertile :

Fertile isotopes may be transmuted into fissile isotopes by neutron capture. The naturally occurring fertile isotopes are Th232 and U238.

Critical :

A critical fission reactor is in a steady state, with its neutron population sustained by a chain reaction.

Reactivity :

Reactivity is a dimensionless parameter, which characterizes how far from critical a fission reactor is. If zero, the reactor is critical; if positive, the reactor is supercritical and its neutron population is increasing; if negative, the reactor is subcritical.

Microscopic cross section :

A microscopic cross section is a parameter, with dimensions of area, that is a measure of the probability of a particular reaction resulting from an incident particle on a target nucleus. The macroscopic cross section for this “particular” reaction is the microscopic cross section times the number density of the target nucleus.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory, West Mifflin, PA, USA

    Michael Natelson

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  1. Michael Natelson
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Correspondence to Michael Natelson .

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  1. Ramtech Ltd., Larkspur, California, USA

    Robert A. Meyers

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Natelson, M. (2016). Fission Reactor Physics. In: Meyers, R. (eds) Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2493-6_18-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-2493-6_18-3

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