Fertile material

Transmutation flow between 238U and 245Cm in LWR. 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.

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