A breeder reactor, like the one scientists in Idaho were trying to build, converts uranium-238’s “nonfissionable material into fissionable material more rapidly than the nuclear fuel is ...

The general principle of an atom bomb lias been no secret. The “fissionable material” (plutonium or uranium 235) explodes spontaneously if enough of it is brought together to form a ...

Moreover, the amount of fissionable material in both bombs was only about two pounds. In contrast, the meltdown at Chernobyl involved some two tons of material released at ground level with no ...