Nuclear material composed of atoms that readily absorb neutrons and decay into other elements, producing fissionable materials. One such element is uranium-238, which decays into plutonium-239 after it absorbs a neutron. Fertile material alone cannot sustain a fission chain reaction.
In nuclear technology, a term describing a substance that is not capable of sustaining a chain reaction, but which can be converted into a fissionable material in a nuclear reactor.
Material that is not fissile, but which can be converted into a fissile material. Uranium-238 and thorium-232 are the principal fertile materials.
Material composed of atoms that readily absorb neutrons to produce fissile material. One such material is uranium 238, which becomes plutonium 239 after it absorbs a neutron. Fertile material alone cannot sustain a chain reaction.
Fertile material is a term used to describe nuclides which generally themselves do not undergo induced fission (fissionable by thermal neutrons) but from which fissile material is generated by neutron absorption and subsequent nuclei conversions. Fertile materials that occur naturally which can be converted into a fissile material by irradiation in a reactor include: thorium-232 which can be converted into fissionable uranium-233, uranium-234 which is converted into uranium-235 and uranium-238 which can be converted into fissionable plutonium-239. Artificial isotopes formed in the reactor which can be converted into fissile material include plutonium-238 which converts into plutonium-239 and plutonium-240 which converts into plutonium-241.
