13 + 14

So, yesterday I didn´t get the chance to share a graph, so today you´ll get a double dose :D

Also, I got a complaint that the last graphs didnt´have any christmas decorations on them - so I´ve tried to do better this time...;)

Today you get two versions of ALPHA! 

ALPHA is the "capture to fission ratio" - it tells us how often a neutron is captured/absorbed, rather than causing a nucleus to fission. We want ALPHA to be as low as possible - since a low ALPHA means that little waste is produced :D

First there is ALPHA for neutrons with low energy:

The red line is for uranium-233, and the blue is for plutonium-239. For low-energy neutrons, ALPHA is lower for uranium-233 than plutonium-239, and this means that there is a smaller waste production from thorium-fuels than uranium...IF the neutrons have a low energy/are thermal (this can´t be said often enough ;) )!

Then there is ALPHA for neutrons with high energy - and here it changes (as it also did with ETA):

For neutrons with high energy the waste production is smaller for uranium-fuels than with thorium...