The neutron spectrum will be only partly moderated, perhaps to the point of being a fast neutron reactor.
A fast neutron spectrum has three main advantages:
For low enriched uranium fuel working on a thermal neutron spectrum, the difference between the average and effective delayed neutron fractions can reach 50 pcm.
This is because today's reactors use the mined uranium-plutonium cycle in a moderated neutron spectrum.
Also a harder neutron spectrum helps to achieve acceptable breeding without protactinium isolation.
With an startup fissile charge of only 1.5 tonnes, made possible through the soft neutron spectrum this makes $150 million.
Breeding in a thermal neutron spectrum is slow and requires extensive reprocessing.
Moreover he knew that Harwell were looking for the crucial neutron spectrum which, surely, would clinch everything.
Material science - fusion reactor material radiation damage study with a neutron spectrum similar to d-t fusion, of small components.
Bonner sphere spectrocopy (BSS) is one of the few methods that provide an accurate measure of the neutron spectrum.