Breeder reactor

A nuclear reactor designed to produce more fissile material than it consumes, typically by converting fertile isotopes into fissile fuel.

Fertile material: Nuclear material that can absorb neutrons and become fissile through radioactive decay. Uranium-238 and thorium-232 are fertile feedstocks that breeding converts into fissile fuel.
Fast breeder reactor: A breeder reactor that uses fast neutrons, usually without a moderator. Fast neutrons can sustain breeding while enabling efficient use of uranium-238.
Converter reactor: A reactor that converts fertile material into fissile fuel but produces no net surplus. It breeds some fuel, but its fissile output does not exceed consumption.
Uranium-238: The most abundant uranium isotope, which is fertile but not fissile with thermal neutrons. Breeders can turn this abundant isotope into plutonium-239.
Fissile material: Nuclear material capable of sustaining a chain reaction with low-energy neutrons. A breeder reactor must create more of this usable fuel than it consumes.
Liquid metal fast breeder reactor: A fast breeder reactor cooled by a liquid metal, commonly sodium. Liquid-metal cooling supports compact cores with high neutron economy.
Thermal-neutron reactor: A reactor in which a moderator slows neutrons to energies near thermal equilibrium. Most thermal reactors consume more fissile fuel than they produce.
Plutonium-239: A fissile plutonium isotope produced when uranium-238 captures a neutron and undergoes radioactive decay. It is the principal bred fuel in many uranium-based breeder designs.
Neutron capture: A nuclear reaction in which an atomic nucleus absorbs a neutron. Capture in fertile isotopes initiates the conversion that produces new fissile nuclei.
Thermal breeder reactor: A breeder reactor that uses moderated, low-energy neutrons to produce fissile fuel. Thermal breeding can use thorium-to-uranium conversion rather than a fast spectrum.

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