Neutron radiation



Neutron radiation is a kind of free neutrons.

Sources

neutron.

Uses

mineralogy and related sciences.

Ionization mechanisms and properties

Neutron radiation is often called indirectly atomic number. In hydrogen, a low energy neutron may not be as penetrating as a high energy gamma.

Health hazards and protection

In radioactive waste.

Neutron elastic scattering, so they can then be absorbed by nuclear reactions. However, gamma radiation is often produced in such reactions, so additional shielding has to be provided to absorb it.

Effects on materials

Neutrons also degrade materials; intense bombardment with neutrons creates Wigner effect, and have to be annealed periodically; the well-known Windscale fire was caused by a mishap during such an annealing operation.

Neutron radiation and nuclear fission

The neutrons in reactors are generally categorized as transmutation.

In order to achieve an effective fission chain reaction, the neutrons produced during fission must be captured by fissionable nuclei, which then split, releasing more neutrons. In most fission reactor designs, the nuclear fuel is not sufficiently refined to be able to absorb enough fast neutrons to carry on the fission chain reaction, due to the lower neutron bombs.

Cosmogenic neutrons

Cosmogenic neutrons, neutrons produced from radiocarbon dating.

See also

 
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Neutron_radiation". A list of authors is available in Wikipedia.