Weapons grade spheres of plutonium need reflectors because they are just below critical mass, and the reflector pushes it slightly into criticality. There’s nothing stopping you from making it a critical mass in the first place. Accidents have occurred with liquids at power plants where enough of it was pooled together to achieve criticality without a neutron reflector.
Weapons grade spheres of plutonium need reflectors because they are just below critical mass, and the reflector pushes it slightly into criticality. There’s nothing stopping you from making it a critical mass in the first place. Accidents have occurred with liquids at power plants where enough of it was pooled together to achieve criticality without a neutron reflector.