Fissile material
Material capable of sustaining a nuclear fission chain reaction / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Fissility" redirects here. For the topic in geology, see Fissility (geology).
In nuclear engineering, fissile material is material that can undergo nuclear fission when struck by a neutron of low energy.[1] A self-sustaining thermal chain reaction can only be achieved with fissile material. The predominant neutron energy in a system may be typified by either slow neutrons (i.e., a thermal system) or fast neutrons. Fissile material can be used to fuel thermal-neutron reactors, fast-neutron reactors and nuclear explosives.