gas-cooled fast-breeder reactor

A gas-cooled fast-breeder reactor is a type of nuclear reactor that produces more fissionable material than it consumes. It utilizes high-energy neutrons to create fissionable material. Unlike conventional reactors that primarily use uranium-235, breeder reactors can use more abundant isotopes like uranium-238 or thorium.12

In a fast breeder reactor, uranium-238 is converted into plutonium-239 through radioactive decay. This plutonium is then bombarded with high-speed neutrons, causing it to split and release energy and more neutrons, sustaining a chain reaction. Gas-cooled fast reactors, a proposed type of fast breeder, use helium as a coolant. These reactors are designed to be more efficient in converting fertile material to fissile material, potentially producing more fissile atoms than are destroyed.13