structural:scholar_edition
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Among the heavy actinide elements, however, those isotopes that have an odd number of neutrons (such as U with 143 neutrons) bind an extra neutron with an additional 1 to 2 MeV of energy over an isotope of the same element with an even number of neutrons (such as U with 146 neutrons). This extra binding energy is made available as a result of the mechanism of neutron pairing effects, which itself is caused by the Pauli exclusion principle, allowing an extra neutron to occupy the same nuclear orbital as the last neutron in the nucleus. In such isotopes, therefore, no neutron kinetic energy is needed, for all the necessary energy is supplied by absorption of any neutron, either of the slow or fast variety (the former are used in moderated nuclear reactors, and the latter are used in fast-neutron reactors, and in weapons).