Assertion: thorium | /r/HasProperty | bombarded by neutron
Facets:
value: like plutonium-239
type: OTHER
value: from an energy fuel
type: CAUSE
value: like uranium-235
type: OTHER
Source sentences:
text: When bombarded by neutrons, thorium becomes radioactive uranium-233, which is shorter-lived and less dangerous than the uranium-235 used in conventional reactors.
text: Thorium (Th-232) cannot split like uranium to generate energy (even if it’s bombarded with neutrons) and needs to pass through a series of nuclear reactions to eventually emerge as an isotope of uranium (U-233).
text: As a result it must first be bombarded with neutrons to produce the highly radioactive isotope uranium-233 – 'so these are really U-233 reactors,' says Karamoskos.
text: However, if it is bombarded by neutrons from an energy fuel that is fissile — like uranium-235 or plutonium-239 — it is converted into uranium-233.