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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

The nuclear industry has from its inception recognized the important role of fast reactors and related fuel cycles in ensuring the long-term sustainability of nuclear power. Fast reactors operated in ...

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.

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 ...