Delayed Neutron

In nuclear engineering, a delayed neutron is a neutron emitted after a nuclear fission event, by one of the fission products (or actually, a fission product daughter after beta decay), anytime from a few milliseconds to a few minutes after the fission event. Neutrons born within seconds of the fission are termed "prompt neutrons."

In a nuclear reactor large nuclides fission in two neutron-rich fission products (i.e. unstable nuclides). Many of these fission products then undergo radioactive decay (usually beta decay) and the resulting nuclides are left in an excited state. These usually immediately undergo gamma decay but a small fraction of them are excited enough to be able to decay by emitting a neutron in addition. The moment of beta decay of the precursor nuclides - which are the precursors of the delayed neutrons - happens orders of magnitude later compared to the emission of the prompt neutrons. Hence the neutron that originates from the precursor's decay is termed a delayed neutron. However, the "delay" in the neutron emission is due to the delay in beta decay, since neutron emission, like gamma emission, happens almost immediately after the beta decay. The various half lives of these decays that finally result in neutron emission, are thus the beta decay half lives of the precursor radionuclides.

Delayed neutrons play an important role in nuclear reactor control and safety analysis.