Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
The chemical toxicity of depleted uranium is identical to that of natural uranium and about a million times greater in vivo than DU's radiological hazard, [101] with the kidney considered to be the main target organ. [102] Health effects of DU are determined by factors such as the extent of exposure and whether it was internal or external.
The main risk of exposure to depleted uranium is chemical poisoning by uranium oxide rather than radioactivity (uranium being only a weak alpha emitter). During the later stages of World War II , the entire Cold War , and to a lesser extent afterwards, uranium-235 has been used as the fissile explosive material to produce nuclear weapons.
In stable isotopes, light elements typically have a lower ratio of neutrons to protons in their nucleus than heavier elements. Light elements such as helium-4 have close to a 1:1 neutron:proton ratio. The heaviest elements such as uranium have close to 1.5 neutrons per proton (e.g. 1.587 in uranium-238).
For natural uranium fuel, fissile component starts at 0.7% 235 U concentration in natural uranium. At discharge, total fissile component is still 0.5% (0.2% 235 U, 0.3% fissile 239 Pu, 241 Pu ). Fuel is discharged not because fissile material is fully used-up, but because the neutron-absorbing fission products have built up and the fuel becomes ...
When fired, depleted uranium becomes ‘essentially an exotic metal dart fired at extraordinarily high speed’
Uranium (92 U) is a naturally occurring radioactive element (radioelement) with no stable isotopes. It has two primordial isotopes, uranium-238 and uranium-235, that have long half-lives and are found in appreciable quantity in Earth's crust. The decay product uranium-234 is also found.
In a fission nuclear reactor, uranium-238 can be used to generate plutonium-239, which itself can be used in a nuclear weapon or as a nuclear-reactor fuel supply. In a typical nuclear reactor, up to one-third of the generated power comes from the fission of 239 Pu, which is not supplied as a fuel to the reactor, but rather, produced from 238 U. [5] A certain amount of production of 239
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.