Word: fissioned
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Fast Neutrons. Unlike the more familiar process of fission (in which energy is released by the breakup of atomic nuclei), fusion involves the combining (or fusing) of two nuclei of hydrogen. The reaction releases energy-primarily in the form of high-velocity neutrons-that scientists hope some day can be harnessed to generate electricity...
Critics of nuclear power plants have long warned of the danger of contamination from Plutonium 239, a highly dangerous byproduct of nuclear fission that has a half-life of a quarter million years. But asbestos has a nearly infinite half-life and unlike Plutonium 239, the air-borne fibers cannot be buried in salt mines far below the earth's surface to remove them from populated areas. The danger is ubiquitous, increasing and well-nigh invisible...
Until recently, the greatest deterrent to amateur bombmaking was the scarcity of the key ingredient. Both weapons and nuclear reactors need fissionable material to sustain a chain reaction -the familiar energy-producing process in which tiny, fast-moving neutrons released by the breakup (fission) of one unstable atom smash into the nuclei of neighboring atoms, causing them to split. The common reactor fuel-which was also used in the bomb that leveled Hiroshima-is a fissionable isotope of uranium called U-235. But U-235 accounts for only about one out of every 140 atoms of uranium in nature...
Possible alternatives to the present oil crisis lie in learning to harness other fossil fuels like coal or such non-fossil fuels as fission, fusion, hydrogen, or solar energy, Meyer said. He added that it is in these directions of research and study that the United States should be moving with a concentrated effort...
...other big money item in the R. and D. budget is the breeder reactor, the machine that will produce energy in the next generation of nuclear (fission) power plants. This promising device, which creates (or breeds) slightly more fuel than it consumes, has been heavily funded ever since Nixon called for its fast development in 1971. Though other nations-most notably the U.S.S.R.-have prototype breeders, the U.S. does not. Its breeder program now gets $365.6 million a year. Next year, the report says, that amount should jump to $515.5 million, and a total of $2.8 billion should...