How are radioisotopes produced in nuclear reactors?

Answer 1

First you have to build the right sort of reactor. You don't use large power reactors like PWR or BWR, because they have very thick pressure vessels operating at high pressure and introducing the sample material would be too difficult. Instead you have a small open pool reactor which is just an assembly of fuel plates in a pool of water, not pressurised, the small amount of heat produced is rejected to atmosphere. There will be built in re-entrant tubes which go into the heart of the reactor and enable material samples to be introduced, left for a while to be irradiated, and withdrawn. So then it's just a matter of choosing the material you want to activate, preparing the sample in the right form, inserting it and removing it into a shielded container.

Answer 2

Radioisotopes are produced in nuclear reactors through the process of nuclear fission, where heavy atomic nuclei are split into smaller fragments by absorbing a neutron, leading to the release of energy and the formation of new isotopes. These newly created isotopes are often radioactive and can be harvested for various applications in fields such as medicine, industry, and research. Specific isotopes can be produced by controlling the nuclear reactions and target materials used in the reactor.