Subcritical borehole nuclear reactor and process

Claim 1

A NUCLEAR REACTOR COMPRISING IN COMBINATION: A FIRST NUCLEAR FUEL ELEMENT; A FIRST LAYER OF NEUTRON-SLOWING MODERATOR MATERIAL; A SECOND LAYER OF THERMAL NEUTRON BARRIER MATERIAL; AND A SECOND NUCLEAR FUEL ELEMENT; SAID FIRST ELEMENT, FIRST LAYER, SECOND LAYER AND SECOND ELEMENT BEING DISPOSED IN SERIAL ORDER AS NAMED ADJACENT EACH OTHER ALONG AN AXIS; A PRIMARY NEUTRON GENERATOR; AND MEANS TO MOVE SAID GENERATOR PARALLEL TO SAID AXIS FROM A POINT ADJACENT ONE OF SAID FUEL ELEMENTS AND ON ONE SIDE OF SAID LAYERS TO A POINT ADJACENT THE OTHER OF SAID FUEL ELEMENTS AND ON THE OTHER SIDE OF SAID LAYERS; SAID FUEL ELEMENTS EACH BEING OF SUBCRITICAL SIZE AND DISPOSED TO BE ACTIVATED BY NEUTRONS FROM SAID PRIMARY GENERATOR WHEN ADJACENT THERETO INTO A NUCLEAR REACTION PRODUCING SUFFICIENT NUMBERS OF FAST NASCENT NEUTRONS TO IN TURN ACTIVATE AN ADJACENT FUEL ELEMENT INTO A SIMILAR REACTOR BY PASSING SAID NASCENT NEUTRONS THROUGH SAID SECOND AND FIRST LAYERS IN THAT ORDER, BUT INSUFFICIENT NUMBERS TO ACTIVATE AND ADJACENT FUEL ELEMENT THROUGH SAID FIRST AND SECOND LAYERS IN THAT ORDER; SAID SUBSCRITICAL SIZE RESULTING IN DIEING OUT OF SAID REACTION IN ANY OF SAID FUEL ELEMENTS WHEN NOT ACTIVATED BY SUFFICIENT NEUTRONS COMING FROM SAID PRIMARY NEUTRON GENERATOR AND ADJACENT FUEL ELEMENT; AND SAID FIRST AND SECOND LAYER IN THAT ORDER BEING SUFFICIENT TO PREVENT NEUTRONS FROM SAID PRIMARY GENERATOR AND THE FUEL ELEMENT ADJACENT SAID FIRST LAYER FROM PASS-