Introduction of Nuclear Fission by High-Voltage Application

Fissile materials are mainly used in nuclear power generation. For instance, U²³⁵ is fissile and therefore quite essential for use of nuclear energy. However, the material U²³⁵ has very small natural abundance less than 1%. We should seek possibility of utilizing fissionable materials such as U²³⁸ because natural abundance of such fissionable materials is generally much larger than fissile ones. It is shown that thermal neutrons with vanishing kinetic energy can induce nuclear fission when high voltage is applied to fissionable materials. In order to obtain this result, we use the liquid-drop model for nuclei. Finally, we suggest how fissionable materials can be utilized.