But when thorium is used instead of uranium-238 as a fertile material to kickstart nuclear fission, the thorium eventually "becomes uranium-233, which fissions almost instantaneously in the ...

Once converted into fissile material, it will be consumed in the chain reaction. This conversion from "fertile" to "fissionable" material significantly improves nuclear fuel efficiency. Fast reactors ...

Thorium is akin to uranium in atomic weight, and it is a fertile nuclear material. That means that it can be used in a nuclear reactor, but it has to be ignited by a fissile material, such as ...

Thorium boasts several advantages over the conventional nuclear fuel, uranium-235. Thorium can generate more fissile material (uranium-233) than it consumes while fuelling a water-cooled or ...

As long as fertile material is around, this can go on indefinitely. But breeding only works with a few radioactive isotopes, since it requires so many neutrons to work.

Molten salt reactors are nuclear's future, but there's still a lot we don't know. A new breakthrough could help engineers crack the next phase of nuclear energy.

In the quest to generate limitless clean energy, China has just taken a step closer. Scientists have achieved the milestone of reloading fuel to an nuclear fission reactor while running.

Four Texas A&M University academics are leading the way in nuclear material research to help develop safer, more advanced reactors. According to the university press release, Ph.D. students Rijul ...

Dams holding vast amounts of uranium mine tailings above the fertile Fergana valley in Central Asia are unstable, threatening a possible Chernobyl-scale nuclear disaster if they collapse that ...