Re:Canadian provinces band together to develop nuclear react...
by londons_explore on Monday December 02, 2019 @11:41AM
(#21684043)
> 2) Critical mass:
Can be dramatically reduced with a neutron reflector [1]. Bare Sphere's [2] can be as small as 6.9cm diameter, and use of a neutron reflector could perhaps reduce that by half or more. 3.5cm is pretty small. Research is still ongoing into reflecting neutrons, and it's possible that some clever arrangement of neutron 'lenses' might allow criticality with almost no mass.[3]
Can be dramatically reduced with a neutron reflector [1]. Bare Sphere's [2] can be as small as 6.9cm diameter, and use of a neutron reflector could perhaps reduce that by half or more. 3.5cm is pretty small. Research is still ongoing into reflecting neutrons, and it's possible that some clever arrangement of neutron 'lenses' might allow criticality with almost no mass.[3]
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neutron_reflector
[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_mass#Critical_mass_of...
[3]: https://www.isis.stfc.ac.uk/Pages/neutron-reflectivity---int...