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The New Energy Reality
Published in Anco S. Blazev, Energy Security for The 21st Century, 2021
There is also an inextricable link between nuclear energy and nuclear weapons, which pose the greatest danger related to nuclear power. The problem is that the same process used to manufacture low-enriched uranium for nuclear fuel, can also be used for the production of highly enriched uranium for nuclear weapons.
Types of Reactors and Their Design Parameters
Published in Robert E. Masterson, Nuclear Engineering Fundamentals, 2017
The uranium in the earth’s crust consists of mostly Uranium-238 (about 99.3% by weight) and about 0.71% by weight U-235. This type of uranium is commonly referred to as natural uranium. Unfortunately, for reasons that were explained in another chapter, natural uranium is not a particularly good nuclear fuel (except in CANDU reactors) because the coolant or moderator absorbs too many neutrons to keep a reactor critical. Because of this, there are not enough neutrons left to sustain a nuclear chain reaction. To compensate for this neutron deficiency the concentration of Uranium-235 in light water reactors is artificially increased to between 2.5% and 5% using a process known as uranium enrichment. The enriched fuel is then known as enriched uranium. The process of enriching natural uranium is not particularly complicated, but it does take some time to explain. For this reason, the interested reader should consult a reactor physics book, or a nuclear fuel cycle book such as Cochran and Tsoulfanidis (refer to the references at the end of the chapter) to learn more about how the process works. The original process for enriching natural uranium was called the gaseous diffusion process, but unfortunately, it turned out to be very energy-intensive, and consumed large amounts of electric power.
Nuclear Fuel Resources
Published in Kenneth D. Kok, Nuclear Engineering Handbook, 2016
For most of the world’s reactors, enriched uranium is required as fuel. Enrichment increases the proportion of the U-235 isotope from its natural level of 0.7% to 3%–5%. This enables greater technical efficiency in reactor design and operation, particularly in larger reactors, and allows the use of ordinary water as a moderator. A by-product (or waste product) of enrichment is depleted uranium (about 89% of the original feed). Every tonne of natural uranium produced and enriched for use in a nuclear reactor gives about 130 kg of enriched fuel (at 3.5% U-235). The balance is depleted uranium (U-238, with 0.25%–0.30% U-235). This major portion has been depleted in its fissile U-235 isotope by the enrichment process. It is commonly known as DU.
A Way of Analyzing an Oxide Layer on Irradiated Plate-Type Atomized U-Mo Fuel Using an EPMA and X-Ray Image Mapping
Published in Nuclear Technology, 2023
Under the Reduced Enrichment for Research and Test Reactors program, many countries are conducting research to develop low-enrichment high-density nuclear fuel.1,2 The U-Mo alloy, in a U-Mo/Al dispersion fuel form, is one of the most promising new fuel candidates owing to its high uranium density as well as excellent irradiation performance. The alloy is being developed extensively to convert from highly enriched uranium fuel to low-enriched uranium fuel for high-performance research and test reactors.3,4