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Uranium-233 is a fissile
Fissile

In nuclear engineering, a fissile material is one that is capable of sustaining a chain reaction of nuclear fission.All known fissile materials are capable of sustaining a chain reaction in which either thermal or slow neutrons or fast neutrons predominate....
 artificial isotope of Uranium
Isotopes of uranium

Uranium is a naturally occurring element with no stable isotopes. In other words, all uranium is radioactive and hence vanishing by radioactive decay, yet it is also found in great quantity in the earth's crust....
, which has been used in a few nuclear reactor
Nuclear reactor

A nuclear reactor is a device in which nuclear chain reactions are initiated, controlled, and sustained at a steady rate, as opposed to a nuclear bomb, in which the chain reaction occurs in a fraction of a second and is uncontrolled causing an explosion....
s and has been proposed for much wider use as a nuclear fuel
Nuclear fuel

Nuclear fuel is any material that can be consumed to derive nuclear energy, by analogy to chemical fuel that is Combustioned to derive energy....
. It has a half-life
Half-life

The half-life of a quantity whose value decreases with time is the interval required for the quantity to decay to half of its initial value. The concept originated in describing how long it takes atoms to undergo radioactive decay but also applies in a wide variety of other situations....
 of 160,000 years.

Uranium-233 is produced by the neutron
Neutron

The neutron is a subatomic particle with no net electric charge and a mass slightly larger than that of a proton.Neutrons are usually found in atomic nucleus....
 irradiation
Irradiation

Irradiation is the process by which an item is exposed to radiation. The exposure can be intentional, sometimes to serve a specific purpose, or it can be accidental....
 of thorium-232
Thorium-232

Thorium-232 is the primary abundant nuclide of thorium. It is a slightly unstable radionuclide that is found in the earth's crust. It is a fertile material able to absorb a neutron and undergo Nuclear transmutation into a nuclide that is able to support nuclear fission ....
. When thorium-232 absorbs a neutron, it becomes thorium-233, which has a half-life of only 22 minutes. Thorium-233 decays into protactinium
Protactinium

Protactinium is a chemical element with the symbol Pa and atomic number 91. Its longest-lived isotope has a half-life of 32,760 years....
-233 through beta decay
Beta decay

In nuclear physics, beta decay is a type of radioactive decay in which a beta particle is emitted. In the case of electron emission, it is referred to as beta minus , while in the case of a positron emission as beta plus ....
. Protactinium-233 has a half-life of 27 days and beta decays into uranium-233; some proposed molten salt reactor
Molten salt reactor

A molten salt reactor is a type of nuclear reactor where the primary coolant is a molten salt. There have been many designs put forward for use of this type of reactor as a nuclear power plant and a few prototypes built....
 designs attempt to physically isolate the protactinium from further neutron capture before beta decay can occur.

233U usually fissions on neutron absorption but sometimes retains the neutron, becoming uranium-234
Uranium-234

Uranium-234 is an Isotopes of uranium. In natural uranium and uranium ore, 234U occurs as an indirect decay product of Uranium-238, but it makes up only 0.0055% of the raw uranium because its half-life of just 246,000 years is only about 1/18,000 as long as the half-life of 238U....
, although the proportion of nonfissions is smaller than for the other common fission fuels, uranium-235
Uranium-235

Uranium-235 is an Isotopes of uranium that differs from the element's other common isotope, uranium-238, by its ability to cause a rapidly expanding nuclear fission chain reaction, i.e., it is fissile....
, plutonium-239
Plutonium-239

Plutonium-239 is an isotope of plutonium. Plutonium-239 is the primary fissile isotope used for the production of nuclear weapons, although uranium-235 has also been used and is currently the secondary isotope....
, and plutonium-241
Plutonium-241

Plutonium-241 is an isotope of plutonium formed when plutonium-240 captures a neutron. Unlike 240Pu, 241Pu is fissionable, with a neutron absorption cross section about 1/3 greater than Pu-239, and a similar chance of fissioning on neutron absorption, around 73%....
, and is still relatively small at all neutron energies.

The fission of one atom of U-233 generates 197.9 MeV
Electronvolt

In physics, the electron volt is a unit of energy. By definition, it is equal to the amount of kinetic energy gained by a single unbound electron when it accelerates through an Electrostatics potential difference of one volt....
 = 3.171 × 10-11 J, i.e.






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Uranium-233 is a fissile
Fissile

In nuclear engineering, a fissile material is one that is capable of sustaining a chain reaction of nuclear fission.All known fissile materials are capable of sustaining a chain reaction in which either thermal or slow neutrons or fast neutrons predominate....
 artificial isotope of Uranium
Isotopes of uranium

Uranium is a naturally occurring element with no stable isotopes. In other words, all uranium is radioactive and hence vanishing by radioactive decay, yet it is also found in great quantity in the earth's crust....
, which has been used in a few nuclear reactor
Nuclear reactor

A nuclear reactor is a device in which nuclear chain reactions are initiated, controlled, and sustained at a steady rate, as opposed to a nuclear bomb, in which the chain reaction occurs in a fraction of a second and is uncontrolled causing an explosion....
s and has been proposed for much wider use as a nuclear fuel
Nuclear fuel

Nuclear fuel is any material that can be consumed to derive nuclear energy, by analogy to chemical fuel that is Combustioned to derive energy....
. It has a half-life
Half-life

The half-life of a quantity whose value decreases with time is the interval required for the quantity to decay to half of its initial value. The concept originated in describing how long it takes atoms to undergo radioactive decay but also applies in a wide variety of other situations....
 of 160,000 years.

Uranium-233 is produced by the neutron
Neutron

The neutron is a subatomic particle with no net electric charge and a mass slightly larger than that of a proton.Neutrons are usually found in atomic nucleus....
 irradiation
Irradiation

Irradiation is the process by which an item is exposed to radiation. The exposure can be intentional, sometimes to serve a specific purpose, or it can be accidental....
 of thorium-232
Thorium-232

Thorium-232 is the primary abundant nuclide of thorium. It is a slightly unstable radionuclide that is found in the earth's crust. It is a fertile material able to absorb a neutron and undergo Nuclear transmutation into a nuclide that is able to support nuclear fission ....
. When thorium-232 absorbs a neutron, it becomes thorium-233, which has a half-life of only 22 minutes. Thorium-233 decays into protactinium
Protactinium

Protactinium is a chemical element with the symbol Pa and atomic number 91. Its longest-lived isotope has a half-life of 32,760 years....
-233 through beta decay
Beta decay

In nuclear physics, beta decay is a type of radioactive decay in which a beta particle is emitted. In the case of electron emission, it is referred to as beta minus , while in the case of a positron emission as beta plus ....
. Protactinium-233 has a half-life of 27 days and beta decays into uranium-233; some proposed molten salt reactor
Molten salt reactor

A molten salt reactor is a type of nuclear reactor where the primary coolant is a molten salt. There have been many designs put forward for use of this type of reactor as a nuclear power plant and a few prototypes built....
 designs attempt to physically isolate the protactinium from further neutron capture before beta decay can occur.

233U usually fissions on neutron absorption but sometimes retains the neutron, becoming uranium-234
Uranium-234

Uranium-234 is an Isotopes of uranium. In natural uranium and uranium ore, 234U occurs as an indirect decay product of Uranium-238, but it makes up only 0.0055% of the raw uranium because its half-life of just 246,000 years is only about 1/18,000 as long as the half-life of 238U....
, although the proportion of nonfissions is smaller than for the other common fission fuels, uranium-235
Uranium-235

Uranium-235 is an Isotopes of uranium that differs from the element's other common isotope, uranium-238, by its ability to cause a rapidly expanding nuclear fission chain reaction, i.e., it is fissile....
, plutonium-239
Plutonium-239

Plutonium-239 is an isotope of plutonium. Plutonium-239 is the primary fissile isotope used for the production of nuclear weapons, although uranium-235 has also been used and is currently the secondary isotope....
, and plutonium-241
Plutonium-241

Plutonium-241 is an isotope of plutonium formed when plutonium-240 captures a neutron. Unlike 240Pu, 241Pu is fissionable, with a neutron absorption cross section about 1/3 greater than Pu-239, and a similar chance of fissioning on neutron absorption, around 73%....
, and is still relatively small at all neutron energies.

The fission of one atom of U-233 generates 197.9 MeV
Electronvolt

In physics, the electron volt is a unit of energy. By definition, it is equal to the amount of kinetic energy gained by a single unbound electron when it accelerates through an Electrostatics potential difference of one volt....
 = 3.171 × 10-11 J, i.e. 19.09 TJ/mol
Mole (unit)

The mole is a Units of measurement of amount of substance: it is an SI base unit, and one of the few units used to measure this physical quantity....
 = 81.95 TJ/kg.
Source Average energy released
(MeV)
Instantaneously released energy 
Kinetic energy of fission fragments 168.2
Kinetic energy of prompt neutrons     4.9
Energy carried by prompt ?-rays     7.7
Energy from decaying fission products 
Energy of ß--particles     5.2
Energy of anti-neutrinos     6.9
Energy of delayed ?-rays     5.0
Sum 197.9
Energy released when those prompt neutrons which don't (re)produce fission are captured     9.1
Energy converted into heat in an operating thermal nuclear reactor 200.1


Breeding uranium-233 from thorium feedstock is the long-term strategy of the nuclear power program of India
Nuclear power in India

Nuclear power is the fourth-largest source of electricity in India in India after thermal power, hydro power and renewable sources of electricity....
, which has substantial thorium reserves. Breeding can be done in either fast reactors or thermal reactor
Thermal reactor

A thermal reactor uses slow or thermal neutrons. Most power reactors are of this type. These type of reactors 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....
s, unlike uranium-based fuel cycle
Nuclear fuel cycle

The nuclear fuel cycle, also called nuclear fuel chain, is the progression of nuclear fuel through a series of differing stages. It consists of steps in the front end, which are the preparation of the fuel, steps in the service period in which the fuel is used during reactor operation, and steps in the back end, which are ne...
s which require the superior neutron economy
Neutron economy

Neutron economy is defined as the ratio of an adjoint weighted average of the excess neutron production divided by an adjoint weighted average of the Nuclear fission production....
 of a fast reactor in order to breed, that is to produce more fissile material than is consumed. Outside of India, interest in the thorium-based fuel cycle
Nuclear fuel cycle

The nuclear fuel cycle, also called nuclear fuel chain, is the progression of nuclear fuel through a series of differing stages. It consists of steps in the front end, which are the preparation of the fuel, steps in the service period in which the fuel is used during reactor operation, and steps in the back end, which are ne...
 is not great, although the world's reserves of thorium are three times those of uranium.

It is also possible to use uranium-233 as the fission fuel of a nuclear weapon
Nuclear weapon

A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either nuclear fission or a combination of fission and nuclear fusion....
, although this has been done only occasionally. The United States first tested U-233 as part of a bomb core in Operation Teapot
Operation Teapot

File:Operation Teapot test.oggOperation Teapot was a series of fourteen nuclear test explosions conducted at the Nevada Test Site in the first half of 1955....
 in 1955. Uranium-233 compares roughly to plutonium-239: its radioactivity is only one seventh (159,200 years half-life versus 24,100 years), but its bare critical mass is 60% higher (16 kg versus 10 kg), and its spontaneous fission rate is twenty times higher (6×10E-9 versus 3×10E-10) — but since the radioactivity is lower, the neutron density is only three times higher. A nuclear explosive device based on uranium-233 is therefore more of a technical challenge than with plutonium, but the technological level involved is roughly the same. The main difference is the co-presence of uranium-232
Uranium-232

Uranium 232 is an Isotopes of uranium . It has a half life of 68.9 years and is a side product in the thorium cycle. It has been cited as an obstacle to nuclear proliferation using 233U as the fissile material, because the intense gamma radiation of 232U's decay products makes the 233U contaminated with it mo...
, that makes uranium-233 very dangerous to work on, and quite easy to detect.

Production of 233U (through the irradiation of Thorium-233) invariably produces small amounts of uranium-232
Uranium-232

Uranium 232 is an Isotopes of uranium . It has a half life of 68.9 years and is a side product in the thorium cycle. It has been cited as an obstacle to nuclear proliferation using 233U as the fissile material, because the intense gamma radiation of 232U's decay products makes the 233U contaminated with it mo...
 as an impurity, because of parasitic (n,2n) reactions on Uranium-233 itself, or on Protactinium-233:
232Th (n,?) 233Th (ß-) 233Pa (ß-) 233U (n,2n) 232U
232Th (n,?) 233Th (ß-) 233Pa (n,2n) 232Pa (ß-) 232U
The decay chain
Decay chain

In nuclear science, the decay chain refers to the radioactive decay of different discrete radioactive Decay product as a chained series of transformations....
 of 232U quickly yields strong gamma radiation emitters:
232U (a, 72 years)
228Th (a, 1.9 year)
224Ra (a, 3.6 day, 0.24 MeV)
220Rn (a, 55 s, 0.54 MeV)
216Po (a, 0.15 s)
212Pb (ß-, 10.64 h)
212Bi (a, 61 s, 0.78 MeV)
208Tl (ß-, 3 m, 2.6 MeV)
208Pb (stable)
This makes manual handling in a glove box with only light shielding (as commonly done with plutonium
Plutonium

Plutonium is a rare transuranic radioactive chemical element. It is an actinide metal of silvery-white appearance that tarnishes when exposed to air, forming a dull coating when plutonium oxide....
) too hazardous, (except possibly in a short period immediately following chemical separation of the uranium from thorium-228
Thorium-228

Thorium-228 is an isotope of thorium which has 90 electrons and protons and 138 neutrons. It has a half life of 1.9116 years. It is highly unstable and is not found in nature....
, radium
Radium

Radium is a radioactive chemical element which has the symbol Ra and atomic number 88. Its appearance is almost pure white, but it readily oxidizes on exposure to air, turning black....
-224, radon
Radon

Radon is a chemical element with symbol Rn and atomic number 86. Radon is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, naturally occurring, radioactive noble gas that is formed from the decay of radium....
-220, and polonium
Polonium

Polonium is a chemical element with the symbol Po and atomic number 84, discovered in 1898 by Marie Curie and Pierre Curie. A rare and highly radioactive metalloid, polonium is chemically similar to bismuth and tellurium, and it occurs in uranium ores....
) and instead requiring remote manipulation for fuel fabrication.

The decay chain of 233U itself is in the neptunium series. The radioisotope bismuth
Bismuth

Bismuth is a chemical element that has the symbol Bi and atomic number 83. This heavy, brittle, white crystalline trivalent poor metal has a pink tinge and chemically resembles arsenic and antimony....
-213 is a decay product of uranium-233. Bismuth-213 has promise for the treatment of certain types of cancer
Cancer

Cancer is a class of diseases in which a group of cell display uncontrolled growth , invasion , and sometimes metastasis . These three malignant properties of cancers differentiate them from benign tumors, which are self-limited, do not invade or metastasize....
, including acute myeloid leukemia
Acute myeloid leukemia

Acute myeloid leukemia , also known as acute myelogenous leukemia, is a cancer of the myeloid line of white blood cells, characterized by the rapid proliferation of abnormal cells which accumulate in the bone marrow and interfere with haematopoiesis....
 and cancers of the pancreas
Pancreas

The pancreas is a gland Organ in the digestive system and endocrine system of vertebrates. It is both an endocrine gland , as well as an exocrine gland, secreting pancreatic juice containing Digestion enzymes that pass to the small intestine....
, kidney
Kidney

The kidneys are Organ that have numerous biological roles. Their primary role is to maintain the homeostasis balance of bodily fluids by filtering and secreting Metabolomics#Metabolitess and minerals from the blood and excreting them, along with water , as urine....
s and other organs
Organ (anatomy)

In biology, an organ is a biological tissue that performs a specific function or group of functions. Usually there is a main tissue and sporadic tissues....
.