This color educational/training film is about the principles of different types of nuclear reactors. This was made in 1963.

Opening credits/titles: Principles Of Thermal, Fast, And Breeder Reactors. Argonne National Laboratory operated by the University of Chicago (:08-:19). An atom of uranium 235 may split when it is struck by a stray neutron and this is discussed and shown in detail. Adding more uranium will help this situation. Scientific explanations are discussed (:20-2:17). A fast reactor is discussed (2:18-3:12) Argon’s experimental Breeder reactor 2 is worked with by some men. This reactor is then explained and shown in an animated diagram (3:13-4:17). Thermal reactor and thermal neutrons are explained (4:18-5:15). Reactors which only use fuel are Fast Reactors. Reactors which use a moderator such as water are Thermal Reactors (5:16-5:51). Uranium 235 is expensive, a single ounce is $400. Plutonium is man made. Uranium is explained as is converting it (5:52-6:56). Fast neutrons can penetrate the U238. But a wall of it can help. Plutonium can be made this way (6:57-8:03). Lots of scientific talk about neutrons, fuel, nuclear reactions and breeding new fuel (8:04-8:37). Aerial shot of a nuclear reactor (8:38-8:53). End credits (8:53-9:00).

A thermal-neutron reactor is a nuclear reactor that uses slow or thermal neutrons. (“Thermal” does not mean hot in an absolute sense, but means in thermal equilibrium with the medium it is interacting with, the reactor’s fuel, moderator and structure, which is much lower energy than the fast neutrons initially produced by fission.)

Most nuclear power plant reactors are thermal reactors and use a neutron moderator to slow neutrons until they approach the average kinetic energy of the surrounding particles, that is, to reduce the speed of the neutrons to low-velocity, thermal neutrons. Neutrons are uncharged, this allows them to penetrate deep in the target and close to the nuclei,[1] thus scattering neutrons by nuclear forces, some nuclides are scattered large

A breeder reactor is a nuclear reactor that generates more fissile material than it consumes. Breeder reactors achieve this because their neutron economy is high enough to create more fissile fuel than they use, by irradiation of a fertile material, such as uranium-238 or thorium-232 that is loaded into the reactor along with fissile fuel. Breeders were at first found attractive because they made more complete use of uranium fuel than light water reactors, but interest declined after the 1960s as more uranium reserves were found, and new methods of uranium enrichment reduced fuel costs.

A fast-neutron reactor (FNR) or simply a fast reactor is a category of nuclear reactor in which the fission chain reaction is sustained by fast neutrons (carrying energies above 0.5 MeV or greater, on average), as opposed to thermal neutrons used in thermal-neutron reactors. Such a reactor needs no neutron moderator, but requires fuel that is relatively rich in fissile material when compared to that required for a thermal-neutron reactor.

Argonne National Laboratory is a science and engineering research national laboratory operated by the University of Chicago Argonne LLC for the United States Department of Energy located in Lemont, Illinois, outside Chicago. It is the largest national laboratory by size and scope in the Midwest.

Argonne was initially formed to carry out Enrico Fermi’s work on nuclear reactors as part of the Manhattan Project, and it was designated as the first national laboratory in the United States on July 1, 1946. In the post-war era the lab focused primarily on non-weapon related nuclear physics, designing and building the first power-producing nuclear reactors, helping design the reactors used by the USA’s nuclear navy, and a wide variety of similar projects. In 1994, the lab’s nuclear mission ended, and today it maintains a broad portfolio in basic science research, energy storage and renewable energy, environmental sustainability, supercomputing, and national security.

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