Re:US regulators will certify first small nuclear reactor de...
by gautamcgoel on Saturday July 30, 2022 @06:10PM
(#32290857)
There are two uranium isotopes present on earth, U-235 and U-238. U-235 is the fissile material which powers nuclear reactions in both nuclear bombs and nuclear power plants. The 5% number represents the fraction of uranium in the fuel which is U-235 instead of U-238. Anything above 20% or so is considered "highly enriched", and nuclear bombs often have fuel which is 80-90% U-235.
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Re:US regulators will certify first small nuclear reactor de...
by gambiting on Saturday July 30, 2022 @07:15PM
(#32291336)
And the reason why bombs have more of the U-235 is because is splits easier than U-238, so it's easier to end up with a self sustaining chain reaction, where every U-235 that splits produces enough neutrons to split off two more U-235 atoms, which in turn splits 4, then 8, then 16 and so on - the chain reaction splits the whole lot all at once and you've got a bomb.