Accelerator-driven subcritical reactor

An accelerator-driven subcritical reactor is a type of nuclear reactor that uses a particle accelerator to drive the nuclear reactions that generate energy. The accelerator is used to shoot particles (like a bullet) at atoms of uranium, which causes the uranium atoms to split—this is called nuclear fission and it releases energy. The accelerator keeps shooting particles at the uranium to keep the fission reaction going, but the reaction is not strong enough to cause a chain reaction like in other kinds of nuclear reactors, so it is called a “subcritical” reactor. This is safer than other kinds of reactors because it is less likely to cause a dangerous, runaway reaction.