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Concept
Fission products (by element)
Summary
This page discusses each of the main elements in the mixture of fission products produced by nuclear fission of the common nuclear fuels uranium and plutonium. The isotopes are listed by element, in order by atomic number.
Neutron capture by the nuclear fuel in nuclear reactors and atomic bombs also produces actinides and transuranium elements (not listed here). These are found mixed with fission products in spent nuclear fuel and nuclear fallout.
Neutron capture by materials of the nuclear reactor (shielding, cladding, etc.) or the environment (seawater, soil, etc.) produces activation products (not listed here). These are found in used nuclear reactors and nuclear fallout. A small but non-negligible proportion of fission events produces not two, but three fission products (not counting neutrons or subatomic particles). This ternary fission usually produces a very light nucleus such as helium (about 80% of ternary fissions produce an alpha particle) or hydrogen (most of the rest produce tritium or to a lesser extent deuterium and protium) as the third product. This is the main source of tritium from light water reactors. Another source of tritium is Helium-6 which immediately decays to (stable) Lithium-6. Lithium-6 produces tritium when hit by neutrons and is one of the main sources of commercially or militarily produced tritium. If the first or only step of nuclear reprocessing is an aqueous solution (as is the case in PUREX) this poses a problem as tritium contamination cannot be removed from water other than by costly isotope separation. Furthermore a tiny fraction of the free neutrons involved in the operation of a nuclear reactor decay to a proton and a beta particle before they can interact with anything else. Given that protons from this source are indistinguishable from protons from ternary fission or radiolysis of coolant water, their overall proportion is hard to quantify.
If Germanium-75 is produced, it quickly decays to Arsenic. Germanium-76 is essentially stable, only decaying via extremely slow double beta decay to 76Se.
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Fission product yield
Nuclear fission splits a heavy nucleus such as uranium or plutonium into two lighter nuclei, which are called fission products. Yield refers to the fraction of a fission product produced per fission. Yield can be broken down by: Individual isotope Chemical element spanning several isotopes of different mass number but same atomic number. Nuclei of a given mass number regardless of atomic number. Known as "chain yield" because it represents a decay chain of beta decay.
Fluoride volatility
Fluoride volatility is the tendency of highly fluorinated molecules to vaporize at comparatively low temperatures. Heptafluorides, hexafluorides and pentafluorides have much lower boiling points than the lower-valence fluorides. Most difluorides and trifluorides have high boiling points, while most tetrafluorides and monofluorides fall in between. The term "fluoride volatility" is jargon used particularly in the context of separation of radionuclides. Valences for the majority of elements are based on the highest known fluoride.
Long-lived fission product
Long-lived fission products (LLFPs) are radioactive materials with a long half-life (more than 200,000 years) produced by nuclear fission of uranium and plutonium. Because of their persistent radiotoxicity, it is necessary to isolate them from humans and the biosphere and to confine them in nuclear waste repositories for geological periods of time. Nuclear fission produces fission products, as well as actinides from nuclear fuel nuclei that capture neutrons but fail to fission, and activation products from neutron activation of reactor or environmental materials.