liquid-metal fast-breeder reactor
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major reference
- In nuclear reactor: Liquid-metal reactors
Sodium-cooled fast-neutron-spectrum liquid-metal reactors (LMRs) received much attention during the 1960s and ’70s when it appeared that their breeding capabilities would soon be needed to supply fissile material to a rapidly expanding nuclear industry. When it became clear in the 1980s that this…
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principles of operation
- In breeder reactor: Fast breeder reactors
…using fast breeder reactors employed liquid-metal fast breeder reactors, which convert uranium-238 into the fissionable isotope plutonium-239 by means of artificial radioactive decay. The plutonium-239 is then bombarded with high-speed neutrons. When a plutonium nucleus absorbs one such free neutron, it splits into two fission fragments. This fissioning releases heat…
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use in submarines
- In submarine: Reactors
liquid-metal.
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