3h56m36s05f Nuclear Fuel - Breeder Reactors - Importance of 2 - Neutron Yield - TR2016a
Channel: Thorium Remix
Date: 2017-05-13

http://ThoriumRemix.com/ How much energy did the neutron have, that you smacked the nuclear fuel with? Ok how much energy did it have? And then how many neutrons did you kick out when you smacked it through fission? 

Kirk Sorensen:
Two is a very significant number in breeder reactors. You need two neutrons. You've got to have one to keep your process going, and you have to have another one to convert fertile material into fissile material. Ok, look at plutonium... eeeehhhhhh. It's that dip below 2 right there. That's what makes it so you cannot burn up Uranium-238 in a thermal-spectrum reactor, like a water-cooled reactor. You just can't do it. The physics are against you. And the reality is, you do lose some neutrons. You can't build a perfect reactor that doesn't lose any neutrons. They look at this and they said, man! We just can't burn Uranium-238 in a thermal reactor. It just can't be done! 

Well, these guys are undeterred, they said well here's what we'll do we'll just built a fast reactor. Because, look how good it gets in the fast region. Wow! It gets above 2, it gets up to 3! Wow, this is really good!