Isotope

One of two or more forms of the same chemical element whose atoms have the same number of protons but a different number of neutrons, giving them the same chemistry but different mass and, often, different nuclear behaviour. Deuterium and tritium are isotopes of hydrogen with one and two neutrons, where ordinary hydrogen has none; uranium-235 and uranium-238 are isotopes of uranium that behave very differently in a reactor, the first readily fissile, the second not. Enrichment is the process of raising the share of one particular isotope, uranium-235, in a batch of uranium.

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concept:isotope

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