uranium-233

chemical isotope

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fissile material

  • In fissile material

    …naturally occurring uranium), plutonium-239, and uranium-233, the last two being artificially produced from the fertile materials uranium-238 and thorium-232, respectively. A fertile material, not itself capable of undergoing fission with low-energy neutrons, is one that decays into fissile material after neutron absorption within a reactor. Thorium-232 and uranium-238 are the…

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production

  • Temelín Nuclear Power Plant, South Bohemia, Czech Republic
    In nuclear reactor: Fissile and fertile materials

    …can be used to generate uranium-233 through a process known as neutron capture. When a nucleus of thorium-232 absorbs, or “captures,” a neutron, it becomes thorium-233, whose half-life is approximately 21.83 minutes. After that time the nuclide decays through electron emission to protactinium-233, whose half-life is 26.967 days. The protactinium-233…

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  • In uranium processing

    Another fissile isotope, uranium-233, can be formed by neutron irradiation of thorium-232.

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  • In thorium processing: Conversion to uranium-233

    When bombarded by thermalized neutrons (usually released by the fission of uranium-235 in a nuclear reactor), thorium-232 is converted to thorium-233. This isotope decays to protactinium-233, which in turn decays to uranium-233:

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