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Enriched uranium is a type of uranium in which the percent composition of uranium-235 (written 235 U) has been increased through the process of isotope separation.Naturally occurring uranium is composed of three major isotopes: uranium-238 (238 U with 99.2732–99.2752% natural abundance), uranium-235 (235 U, 0.7198–0.7210%), and uranium-234 (234 U, 0.0049–0.0059%).
While heavy water is very expensive to isolate from ordinary water (often referred to as light water in contrast to heavy water), its low absorption of neutrons greatly increases the neutron economy of the reactor, avoiding the need for enriched fuel. The high cost of the heavy water is offset by the lowered cost of using natural uranium and/or ...
But the IRA also earmarked $700 million to support the development of a domestic supply chain for high-assay low-enriched uranium, commonly referred to as HALEU. The funding is intended to help ...
Natural uranium is made weapons-grade through isotopic enrichment. Initially only about 0.7% of it is fissile U-235, with the rest being almost entirely uranium-238 (U-238). They are separated by their differing masses. Highly enriched uranium is considered weapons-grade when it has been enriched to about 90% U-235. [citation needed]
In ferrous alloys, uranium increases the elastic limit and the tensile strength. In high speed steels, it has been used to increase toughness and strength in amounts between 0.05 and 5%. [5] Uranium-alloyed steels can be used at very low temperatures; nickel-uranium alloys are resistant to even very aggressive chemicals, including aqua regia. [6]
The IFR uses metal alloy fuel (uranium, plutonium, and/or zirconium), which is a good conductor of heat, unlike the uranium oxide used by LWRs (and even some fast breeder reactors), which is a poor conductor of heat and reaches high temperatures at the center of fuel pellets. The IFR also has a smaller volume of fuel, since the fissile material ...
Mixed oxide, or MOX fuel, is a blend of plutonium and natural or depleted uranium which behaves similarly (though not identically) to the enriched uranium feed for which most nuclear reactors were designed. MOX fuel is an alternative to low enriched uranium (LEU) fuel used in the light water reactors which predominate nuclear power generation.
Because natural uranium begins with such a low percentage of 235 U, enrichment produces large quantities of depleted uranium. For example, producing 1 kilogram (2.2 lb) of 5% enriched uranium requires 11.8 kilograms (26 lb) of natural uranium, and leaves about 10.8 kilograms (24 lb) of depleted uranium having only 0.3% 235 U.