Fertile material

Transmutation flow between 238U and 245Cm in LWR.[1] Speed of transmutation varies greatly by nuclide, and percentages are relative to total transmutation and decay. After removal of fuel from reactor, decay will predominate for shorter-lived isotopes such as 238Pu, 241Pu, 242–244Cm; but 245–248Cm are all long-lived.

Fertile material is a material that, although not fissile itself, can be converted into a fissile material by neutron absorption.

  1. ^ Sasahara, Akihiro; Matsumura, Tetsuo; Nicolaou, Giorgos; Papaioannou, Dimitri (April 2004). "Neutron and Gamma Ray Source Evaluation of LWR High Burn-up UO2 and MOX Spent Fuels". Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology. 41 (4): 448–456. doi:10.3327/jnst.41.448.